The Kurusus
by LiarBackfires
Summary: Kimihito Kurusu and everything around him was never normal from the start. Everything just gets even more bizarre as another Kurusu steps into the Kurusu house. Let's watch Kimihito and the exchange students accept our newcomer. So many things are going to change.
1. Prologue & Chapter 1

Prologue

"Say Honey, I've never heard you talking about your family."

The statement made Kimihito Kurusu stumble, almost making him drop the pot filled with hot stew and burn his feet badly. Luckily, the young man gained his balance fast enough and prevented a major disaster. The hot stew didn't escape from the pot, and there was no damage done to anyone. Which wasn't exactly the most typical scene of the Kurusu household; usually these kinds of events lead to a Major disaster, and the 'm' there needs to be capitalized. How else would you describe the chaos that takes place in this house in a regular basis with only one word?

Despite the lack of physical injuries, the statement did seem to have a great effect in general. For one thing, Kimihito's eyes regained its shape and color. Instead of the blank, white eyes, in its place came a pair of clear, brown eyes. And they seemed rather concerned, as if that one statement, or rather, the one word 'family', brought up many thoughts and memories, both good and bad, happy and sad. It was hard to read the emotions within those eyes. Considering how much of a open book he is normally, this change was quite a remarkable one.

And the members gathered around the dinner table seemed to notice this, too. Everyone went into a halt; some even dropped their chopsticks in surprise. Although their facial expressions varied, from obvious worry to a weak sign of amusement, an element of surprise was the thing in common. In fact, they were much too surprised that even Papi didn't start talking.

"I'm sorry if I brought out a sensitive topic, Honey. I was just curious..."

The arachne's voice faded out towards the end of her sentence. Which was also very unusual, since she usually says whatever she wishes to say, and doesn't get apologetic often. But then again, she never saw her host lost in words, at least not this way. Perhaps that was why the other girls didn't jump when they heard the word 'sorry' from Rachnera's lips. Or maybe they were too concerned about Kimihito's state that they simply weren't caring too much to whatever Rachnera was talking about. Either way, the mood of the dinner plummeted straight down.

The host raised his head and faced the girls. He smiled, as if he was making an effort to comfort them. Then he switched into a slightly apologetic face himself.

"No, that's okay. There was nothing wrong with the question. It's just... I... Um... Well, I was kinda expecting this topic to come up someday, but I wasn't expecting today to be the day, and... Err..."

He gave out a quick sigh. Then he sat down on his chair. The girls could swear that they've never saw their host like this.

"I'll tell you guys about my family. I promise I will. Just not today."

After saying that, he scratched his head and gave them an uneasy smile. No one, even Papi or Suu, was dumb enough to believe that smile, believe that he was actually all over the melancholy things and was back in his blank-eye, happy state again.

"For now, let's just have dinner, alright? The food's gonna get cold. And I don't want to have dinner in a mood as bad as this. I mean, a dinner table filled with people and food should be merry, right?"

He then started to eat his dinner. Seeing that their host was in no mood to talk about the matter anymore, the girls returned to their food as well, after they exchanged glances. The mood of the dinner table was never so awkward.

Chapter 1

"Oh great. We ran out of water."

Kimihito sighed as he checked the food supplies. How could he even forget buying water, out of all things? It was one of the most basic needs in life or something, right? Well, there is a water purifier in the house, so it's not like everyone will have to suffer in thirst, but since he insisted in using mineral water when he cooked, it is quite a necessity. Especially when he has to cook for 8 people, or to be exact, 1 human and 7 extraspecies. That doesn't really give you a light cooking load.

"Darling, is there anything wrong?"

The lamia came up to him, or rather, slithered up to him, with obvious concern in her face. Ever since the incident in the dinner table, she was quite distressed. Ever since then, her darling looked quite concerned about something. Of course, Miia wasn't the only one that was concerned about this. It wasn't like the other girls didn't care; they just had different ways of expressing it. Papi remained silent throughout the whole meal and wasn't playing Wii tennis. Centorea's arms were crossed ever since suppertime ended, even forgetting about polishing her claymore. Meroune's anxiety was obvious in the pose of her webbed hands; they kept on squirming in a way that just screamed out anxiety. Suu couldn't erase the confused look in her face. Rachnera was playing with her webs with her hands, but something was obviously going wrong, for she wasn't coming up with any output even after 5 minutes. Which spoke a lot, since she is capable of making small dolls within seconds. Lala couldn't find her head and kept on wandering around the house, looking for it, when they were actually in her hands the whole time. They were all worried, but most of them thought that it would be better to let him stay alone for the time being. All of them, except for Miia. As soon as the question left her lips, 6 eyes stared back at her.

"Oh, Miia. Nothing really. I just realized that we ran out of mineral water, and I forgot to buy some at the supermarket today. I guess I'll have to go buy some at the nearby convenience store."

Before Miia could say anything about that, Centorea, who as very aware of the conversation, kicked in. Of course, her knightly instincts kicked in as well.

"Milord, if that is the case, please allow me to escort you on your way and back! It is a knight's duty to always protect their master!"

"Cerea, please, there is no need to. It's not like I'll be gone for long. It'll barely take me 10 minutes or something."

"But...Milord..."

"Besides, it's getting quite dark. Don't you have to polish your sword for this evening?"

"Yes...but..."

Centorea struggled to find a way to answer, with no results. Still, if she insisted, she would have followed him still, but she soon remembered the face he made during dinner, and decided that her master needed some time for himself. After all, it was rare to see him alone at home, since he is always accompanied by one of the 7 girls, including herself. She sighed and gave up.

"Boss! Papi wants to go too!"

"Master, can Suu follow Master?"

Of course, those two weren't as observant as Centorea. And it seemed like Papi forgot everything after a few steps, Suu most likely imitating her and her actions. A few sighs could be heard from the other girls, and some webs came flying over to the direction.

"Hey, Rachnee! Why would you tie me up?"

"Seriously, Papi, let Honey be alone for a chance."

Papi gave out a few complaints, only to be blocked by Rachnera's webs that this time tied around her mouth instead of her body. Mero didn't say a word as she was seated in her wheel chair. Lala, as always, somehow vanished somewhere, or at least, couldn't be found.

"No need to make such a fuss, girls. It'll just take 10 minutes. I'll be back soon!"

With those words, the host left the house. Those who were left in the house looked at each other.

"Geez, why can't darling tell me what's inside his head? I'll absolutely comfort him!"

"Your 'comforting' can end up in dislocating master's shoulder, you know..."

"Hey, that wasn't nice!"

"Rachnee, can you please let me down? Pretty please~?"

"No way if you're going to act like...Hey Suu! Stop that..."

"It seems like Miss Suu got dehydrated again, Miss Rachnera. Or maybe she's just anxious?"

"Errgh! anyway, just let me go..."

And the house lost its peacefulness. It didn't even take a minute. The peace was soon replaced by commotion and abuse, both physical and verbal, and maybe... in a way...sexual?

Ding-Dong

Every action in the house was halted at the sudden sound of the bell. The girls looked at each other with confused eyes.

"Who's that?"

"How on earth should I know?"

"That's strange. Master doesn't receive much guests."

"Especially in the evening, too."

"Papi's going to open the door!"

"Hey Papi, wait! We're not sure whether we should open the door to strangers!"

Before Centorea could catch Papi, the harpy dashed out and reached the doorknob. With an energetic vibe, she pulled it and looked outside with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Papi... Ahh!"

With just a small yelling sound, the harpy stood in place, lost for words as she looked at the unexpected visitor. Worried by Papi's sudden change of attitude, the other girls rushed towards the door to see who exactly was their visitor.

"AAAHHHHH!"

As soon as they saw who their visitor was, they screamed in harmony. Even Rachnera freaked out, too shocked by the sight. Despite the lack of light during the late evening, everyone could see enough.

On their doorstep was a person, a human whose clothes were totally soaked in blood and tattered. All kinds of cuts and bruises seemed to be covering up the skin that was revealed. Scabs and clusters of blood covered up the face, making it nearly impossible to identify. Occasionally a drop of blood would ooze out from one of the cuts and drop on the steps as it made a small dripping sound.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Who…What the…"

Someone barely made out 3 words, but those were the only words that were spoken for a few minutes. No one seemed to find the right word to say, or figure out the right thing to do. Miia, Papi, Suu and Meroune were never too good at handling with sudden events; Centorea and Rachnera, despite their maturity in personality and thoughts, didn't have a clue of what they should do. They all froze, terrified and shocked. It was a miracle that none of them actually fainted up to this point.

Somehow, time passed. Although it seemed like 3 hours for the girls, it was actually only 2 minutes that had passed. Depending on how you see it, it is a very short amount of time, but it was enough for at least one of the girls to regain her senses and somehow make her thinking process work again.

"We have to get her back in the house."

"Cerea, we have no idea who this… this human is!"

"He's creepy!"

"She's creepy!"

"Although I have no clue of whether this person is a he or she, I shall have to agree with Miss Papi and Suu, Miss Centorea! We can't just let an absolute stranger in this kind of state…"

"Everyone!"

Although it was no surprise for Centorea to suddenly yell in a loud voice every now and then, everyone was fully surprised to the sudden change in her tone of voice. As whenever she gets into her 'knight-mode', her voice was filled with determination.

"If Master was present, he would have not let a stranger that came to us to just lay abandoned! Especially when they are badly injured and needing of help!"

"I… should have to agree that that's what dear sir would have done, but…!"

"Leaving this stranger like this is certainly against chivalry! Master would have agreed to that! Now allow me to carry this stranger into the house!"

Centorea walked two heavy determined steps towards the stranger. After an inhale and exhale filled with determination, she lowered her body and reached out her arms to slip under the parts that seemed to be the shoulders and legs. She was surprised to find out that the stranger was shorter than she expected. She was expecting the stranger to be a fully grown male, or at least an adult. The height of the stranger seemed to be the equivalent of an adolescent girl, no taller than that. She was even more surprised when she lifted her up. The stranger was very, very light. Although Centorea never actually lifted a teenage human girl before, she was quite confident that they should be much heavier than the badly bruised human in her arms.

She turned backwards and headed straight into the house, ignoring the sign of disapproval and remaining shock in the faces of her housemates. As she stepped into the house, the others followed her with fright and vigilance in their eyes. The closer she went to the center of the living room, the light from the chandelier shined brightly on the face of the stranger. It was then that Centorea could get a grasp of what the stranger looked like.

The stranger was a girl. Her face was covered up in bruises, small cuts and blood, but Centorea could still see the tenderness of the skin, and the smooth facial features. As Centorea moved her eyes towards the other parts of her body, she could make sure that the stranger was a young girl. She wasn't tall; definitely shorter than herself or Rachnera or Meroune, but she still seemed taller than Papi and Suu. And she was definitely slim. Only a slow, weak pulse in her body proved that she was still surviving somehow.

After figuring out the basics of the stranger, Centorea could start feeling the blood on her body that occasionally dripped onto her hands. I have a problem, she thought to herself. Where was she to lay her down? She couldn't lay her down on the floor. She should at least use a bed or something similar to that, but in her current state, the stranger would end up ruining the bed sheet. And giving her master more to do was the last thing in her mind. Laying the stranger on the sofa would bring the same problem. Overwhelmed by her pursue in chivalry and her wanting to save this girl, she was in panic. Tears were gathering in her eyes. She sincerely wanted to save the girl.

It was then that a miracle seemed to happen.

Around the walls of the living room, white, thread-like substances moved around in the speed of light. Centorea watched in both amusement and relief as they somehow connected themselves to form a shape of a bed that was attached to the wall, in a way resembling a hammock, but somehow more attached by the sides rather than the top and bottom.

"Seriously, Centorea. You should end up your heroic acts if you started it. Besides, it won't be good for the girl if she was just left their in your arms forever."

"Rachera!"

The arachne eyed her. She didn't seem as willing to help the girl as Centorea was; vigilance was evident in her eyes.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm no knight-and-chivalry-wannabe like yourself, but once you let her in the house, she is our guest. It would be a pity to see a guest die in the house, and it won't leave any good records for our host, would it?"

Centorea rushed towards the newly made bed. At the same time, Rachnera's last words made Centorea realize something. Her master. He was supposed to be back home by now. Where was he?

"Hey, why are you girls all gathered around the front door?"

"Boss, Centorea brought in a…"

"Huh, what's wrong, Papi? All of you?"

"Milord!"

Centorea moved up towards her master, glad to see someone that could help her out.

"Please, master. Help this little girl!"

As soon as Kimihito looked at the girl in the centaur's arms, he let go of the giant plastic bag filled with mineral bottle.

Thump.

Anyone could see that fear wasn't the main motivation for it.

"…Satsuki?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next one or two hours went in a blur.

Unlike the girls, Kimihito regained his senses within a few seconds. He then somehow did everything; he brought a set of new clothes (of the young girl's size, too. The girls had no idea where those things came from all of a sudden), cleaned her body with some wet towels, applied disinfectants on her cuts, added a touch of salve to the small and minor ones, put bandages around the deeper ones, and changed her into fresh clothes. The girls helped him while he undressed and dressed her, but that was all the help they could offer. He was moving too swiftly and was too serious that the girls couldn't dare to speak to him or even offer him their help. They were gathered around the hammock-bed, keeping a distance of 2 or three meters, mostly staring in awe as their host made everything work out. When he was done with the treatments, the girl was no longer bleeding, and most of her bruises seemed to have been properly dealt with. And they could finally actually see how she looked like. Their host family was an incredible person.

Everyone looked down at the stranger. A young girl that looked no older than 13 or 14 at most. Her skin was light brown, much darker than most of the girls and Kimihito, but lighter than Tio's and nearly white compared to Doppel's. Looking at her face properly, they could make out her basic features. In overall, she had a slim figure and smooth features that would make most people think that she would have a rather decent face. But at the same time she didn't give out the vibe of a heartbreaking beauty. Her hair was black and reached to her collarbone. The line that that connected her forehead to the brow bone had a slight angle. Her eyebrows were black and slightly thick. She had long lashes for a girl so young. Her nose wasn't big or small, and its shape was just right, although it wasn't greatly lifted. Her lips didn't have much color, probably mostly because of all of her injuries and loss of blood.

Kimihito looked at her especially closely. Even if he didn't spit out what seemed to be her name the first moment he saw her, the other girls could easily notice that he knew her very well. The way he looked at her was filled with caring and consideration, and he just couldn't take his eyes off her for more than a few seconds. He lifted his hand and leaned the back of his hand to the girl's forehead. He then took her hand, or to be exact, felt her pulse from her wrist. After sighing in relief, he then gave out a smile. It was warm and loving and was so filled with happiness that the girls thought it to be angelic. In fact, it seemed so innocent that the girls, completely forgetting about the girl, all shared the same thought, 'I want to protect that smile.'

"Darling…"

Miia, once again in love with him and his beautiful smile, almost felt like crying. He was such a wonderful, caring man, and at the same time, so lovely in her eyes. How on earth could she not love him? He was more charming than any prince that she read of, and definitely much, much kinder.

Of course, this feeling was mutual. Centorea's cheeks were dyed in a very strong pink. Rachnera's blushed, changing the color of the face to be similar to the color of her eyes. Meroune's eyes were dreamy and sparkling, and it was the same for Papi and Suu.

The lovely peace within the house broke when Kimihito suddenly staggered. His legs suddenly started to disobey his orders to just stay still. If it wasn't for Rachnera that was standing right behind him, and caught him on the right timing, he would have fallen.

"Ugh… I'm sorry, Rachnee…"

"No need to be sorry, Honey," the arachne told him with a warm smile that didn't come so often. "You've been standing for more than an hour or so, and I've got to say that I was impressed with what you did for that girl."

"Yes milord, your actions were absolutely stunning!" Centorea added in, her eyes filled with proudness and respect. "I am ashamed to have not been able to aid you while you were doing such wonderful deeds!"

"Master was incredible!"

"Boss was great!" Papi yelled, running around in circles as she danced.

"Dear sir, I should say that you did a magnificent job. It was an honor to have been able to witness it."

Taken aback by all of the compliments and praises, Kimihito's eyes returned to its normal state, blank and white. He tried to get up on his feet, but it seemed like his legs were off duty. After a few tries trying to get up with the help of the girls, he gave out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, everyone!" The host was back in his normal good guy mood. "I… Well, I guess I was a bit too tense a little while ago." He then murmured to himself, "Gosh, why on Earth am I so useless?"

"Master, allow me the honor of carrying you back to your room!"

Centorea was certainly up for this. Serving her master when he is temporarily immobilized? Being a useful servant? Doing what 'she should do' as his knight? It would have been unlike her if she wasn't up for it.

"Please, Cerea… I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get up after a few more tries. You don't have to carry me. But, it would be nice if you could offer your hand so that I can give another try on getting up."

Centorea wasn't too happy about the answer, but she couldn't go against her master. Besides, she could start to feel Miia and Meroune's stares at her. They've obviously moved on from the amused and admiring mode to their normal mode. Reluctantly, she gave out both of her hands, which Kimihito grabbed on firmly, trying to raise himself up, which obviously made her blush all over again. Miia's jealous face was surely notable.

"But master, who is she?"

The other girls were shocked to hear this question. It wasn't because of the fact that the slime was asking something in her own words; they already found out that Suu was intelligent enough to do those kinds of things and was capable of doing even greater ones. And it wasn't really the question itself that surprised them, either. They were too shocked to find out that they themselves haven't asked that question earlier. After all, that was the most important thing right now, right? Besides, despite how young she looks and probably is, she could be a rival, right?

Kimihito was expecting this question to come any minute. With a determined look, he faced the girls.

"She is Satsuki. Satsuki Kurusu. And as you guys might have already figured out…you know, with her name and all…" He stopped for a moment before he continued. "She is my younger sister."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rachnera considered it lucky that there wasn't a full moon today. With Kimihito's current state and the commotion in the girls' hearts, including hers, he wouldn't have been able to avoid a complete disaster that could seriously lead to his death. She herself could do serious damage to him, and could have easily killed him if she was out of her mind. Just thinking about the idea made her shudder. No. She will not let that happen. She abstained herself well until now. She will do everything to keep this streak.

Giving out a sigh, she turned her body so that her face would face the ceiling. She just couldn't go to sleep. It was a rare occasion, since she usually sleeps earlier and longer than any of her housemates. It was probably the shock from looking at that badly injured body or that smile that didn't allow her to sleep. Whatever the cause was, she didn't linger too long on figuring out what it was. Somehow maintaining her position with ease without breaking her silk-hammock, she just endlessly twirled a few strands of silk around her finger as she let her thoughts flow around in her mind until it reached a certain topic.

"Younger sister, huh," the arachne mumbled. "Wonder where she came from all of a sudden."

Who on earth is she? Where did she come from? How come she has never heard about her until now? Why wasn't she able to notice that her Honey had a sibling? Even more, where was she until now? Why suddenly appear, all covered up in blood and looking like she barely escaped from a battlefield? She had no answers to any of these questions. Although she could have asked Honey herself, she was distracted too much by that smile, dammit. And he wasn't really in the shape to keep on talking. After getting up with Centorea's assistance, it took all of his leftover strength to just get back into his room by himself, refusing the girls' offer to help. Her curiosity was left unattended, and it seemed like that was getting on her nerves.

She rose herself up from her cozy, silky bed. Making almost no sound at all, she landed on the floor with ease. It didn't take her long to get pass the hallway and get down the stairs and return to the living room. Having no need to turn on the lights, with her red spider eyes having no trouble seeing things in the dark, she went closer to the girl. She was right where they left her, on the more bedlike hammock that she made. She was breathing much more comfortably than a while before, which was a relief. Rachnera looked into her features carefully. The more she looked at her, the more she could see that the girl had a bit of charm of her own that worked even though there were minor cuts on her face. It wasn't like she was Venus incarnate or something, but something about her just seemed to make herself like her rather than hate her. Doesn't look very much alike with Honey, she thought to herself. But then, human siblings don't look alike as much as extraspecies siblings. Not giving much thought to that, she slowly reached to touch her forehead, being extra careful not to give her the slightest scratch. To her surprise, it was much rougher than it looked like. However, due to her lack of interaction with humans, she had no idea if the girl's skin was abnormally rough in human standards. But she was sure that it was much rougher than Honey's.

Then the girl moved. The movement was subtle, but it was surely there. The arachne, totally taken by surprise, took her hands off her forehead almost immediately. She was sure that she was touching her softly. Despite her curiosity she had no wish to wake the girl. Although she knew nothing about medicine or medical treatments, she could see that the girl could use at least a day or two of nice sleep. She was extra careful not to wake her up while she touched her. Regardless, the movements of the girls got bigger. She first moved her index finger slightly, then her arm, then slowly flexed her knee. Rachnera watched as she moaned in pain as she moved a few parts of her body. The way her face twitched in agony made Rachnera take pity on her. She had no idea what the girl went through before she reached this house, but it was quite evident that it was nothing nice and gentle. And she was just so _young_. Although she knew nothing of her, she was convinced that she did nothing wrong, or rather, had the intention to do something wrong enough to have earned herself all those scars. It was more likely that she was just in the wrong environment or something. To save the girl from further pain, she gently pushed down her arm and her knees to put them back into a neat position.

"Sleep, young girl," after saying that to her from about a distance of a few inches from her ear, she moved closer to her so that she could mumble in her ear, "I wouldn't move right now if I were you."

Although the girl was far from conscious, Rachnera could feel that she was understanding what she was saying in her unconscious or something. She stopped trying to move herself, and instead gave out a weak panting that changed into regular breathing soon enough. Checking this, Rachnera was about to leave when she heard the girl murmur in a hoarse voice.

"Please… Let me go… I have to return to…Please…Don't eat me…"

Listening to the last part of the girl's murmur, the arachne shuddered. She turned back and moved towards the girl, and carefully lifted her shirt and took a closer look at her wounds. She was greatly startled to see her wounds properly, which she failed to do earlier. Perhaps 'terrified' was the better word to explain what she felt.

The smaller cuts that covered up her torso were long and had an irregular shape. They were definitely not made by a knife or any sort. They were claw and teeth marks of all shapes; long and short, wide and thin. Afraid to admit her assumptions of what they were, she took a look at the deeper cuts that were bandaged. They were neatly covered up, but she could still see the vague shape of it through the blood that was still seeping out. She shuddered. Her assumptions were true.

The girl was attacked by non-humans. The injuries that covered up her body were the evidence of vicious attacks from all kinds of extraspecies. Rachnera could match some cuts to their inflictors: harpy's (or their subspecies') claws and lizardmen's teeth. And as soon as she looked at the shape of the deepest cut that was made across her chest, she wished that she were wrong. She knew just too well that she wasn't, though. That deep, large cut was made by an arachne.

Horrified, Rachnera put the shirt back on the girl, and turned to go back to her room. It was not until then that she noticed someone else that was watching her and the girl. How she managed to approach so closely without alarming her, Rachnera had no idea.

"Centorea."

The centaur looked back at her. Even though they didn't say another word to each other, they knew that they have reached the same conclusion. The younger sister of their host, the man they both loved dearly, was nearly killed by a party of extraspecies.

"Do you think he knows?" The centaur asked. Her eyes couldn't stay focused and kept on moving around. She was obviously very worried and anxious.

"I'm not sure, but I have a feeling he doesn't. At least not yet," Rachnera replied with a strained voice. She was worried about Kimihito's reaction when he finds out about this. Will he be terrified of extraspecies, now that he sees that some actually try to kill humans on purpose? Or will he be angry at them for harming his younger sister? As she thought about this, she bit her lip. She never liked humans ever since _that_ incident. She thought that humans were cowards, liars, and hypocrites. They never accepted those that were different from them, they were too afraid to do that. Honey was the only one that did with all his heart. But up until now, he never dealt with extraspecies that actually tried to kill him. He would get hurt because of his housemate's advances every once in a while, but none of them did serious damage to him, and certainly weren't done with any evil intentions. It would have supported his reasons for not hating extraspecies.

This situation could change everything. Now he will see what some extraspecies are willing to do, and what her kind was truly capable of doing. The incident with Ren seemed like child's play now. This girl was lucky that she survived from the attack and didn't lose too much blood. If she was treated just an hour or two later, she could have easily died. If Kimihito started hating her and the girls because of this, will she be able to blame him? She herself hated all humans because of what happened to her, and none of those events actually endangered her life.

"What if he finds out?" The centaur seemed like she was about to cry any moment. Indeed, her predictions weren't too different from Rachnera's. Will her master change? She didn't even want to imagine that scenario. If he didn't choose herself as his bride, it would be heartbreaking, but not unbearable. He will still be her master. Even if he doesn't accept her as a romantic partner, she would still be able to serve him. But if he were to totally change because of this incident, that would be impossible. He would not be the master she has chosen to serve.

After a quiet conversation that wasn't too common between the two, they reached up to some points. Since he isn't showing any reaction at all, he probably doesn't know the culprit. It would be complete madness to bring out the subject and spoil the beans, which means that it would be wise for them to stay quiet about it until he asks or somehow finds out. Another point was about the girl. Once she regains consciousness, there would be a need to find out what exactly happened to her. It would be impossible for them to shush her from talking about her offenders, but if they could somehow listen to her story before Kimihito does, then maybe they would be able to set up a plan of some sort.

The two thought that, although it was their idea, the last idea was quite absurd. What's the point in 'making a plan', anyway? He'll most likely get to know it in one way or another. Her being his sister and all, it would be impossible to conceal it forever, or even a few days. Sugarcoating the story or something won't change the most important facts. The two just wanted to think that there was a way to maintain the current state. Once Kimihito finds out what really happened to his sister, he won't be able to stay the same… right?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

She dreamed.

Her dream started off with a big piece of Japanese rice paper set up in front of her. The paper was so big that she couldn't its corners, making itself the background of everything that happened. The half-transparent paper was perfectly clean, with no marks made on it yet. With no power or will to question its appearance, she simply watched as a substance that looked like colored ink dropped on to the paper and spread its hue.

The first drop was ruby red. It started off as a small drop, but then it slowly started to expand itself. The nearby whiteness, the clean, untouched fragments were tainted with the very color of blood. The parts of the paper that were once firm and still turned mushy and weak as it earned color, sacrificing its purity and whiteness. She could see that the expanding process itself wasn't somehow right. The initial color was a bright, beautiful kind of red, but as it expanded it lost its glory and its brightness. The overall color was turning into a murky, dirty looking, impure red that no longer showed glory or power, just impurity and disgust. Nevertheless, the expanding didn't seem to stop. It kept going on until she could no longer see the beautiful color of the rice paper.

She no longer wanted to see. She turned around, wishing to see anything but the disgusting red, but found out that she was already totally surrounded by the color. Horrified, she was about to cover up her eyes when she saw some other colors coming into her sight. Yellow, green, blue, and even some white were slowly dropping onto the dreadful color. They also started off as small drips, but they soon expanded themselves, defeating the dirty color, coloring the paper with a different hue. These colors didn't get gross as they expanded. They still had their beautiful, clean color within them while they expanded. Although the overall sight was turning into a mess, it was still better than the murky red everywhere. She dropped her hands that she raised to cover her eyes. She could now see what was in front of her without terror.

But then, a sudden gush of wind blew out of nowhere, and the total scene change. The clean, beautiful colors slowly got replaced into pitch-black. It happened so swiftly that she couldn't properly process what has happening. In a blink of an eye, the colors were gone, and she was left with nothing but blackness and disgusting redness in front of her eyes. She gasped in horror as the blackness didn't stop itself from expanding. She could see trails of black appearing in the redness, steadily filling up the paper. This time, they were trails and not drops; she could see that the trails were forming some kind of shape, as if someone was drawing very delicately with a giant paintbrush. It made out shapes that she didn't want to remember. Fangs, claws, and metal utensils with sharp edges appeared. They weren't just appearing; they were rushing towards her. Unable to move her legs with shock, she saw some other figures. Faces with cruelness that surpassed those of the old kings, desperate as an escaping herbivore, and bloodthirsty as famished wolves slowly formed; their lines were black and their eyes, skin, and hair were all red. They swiftly advanced towards her. It was obvious that she was the target. Although she couldn't feel anything yet, she had the feeling that something was grasping onto her limbs so that she couldn't move. Any efforts to be freed were futile and only brought pain. She was captured to face their wrath.

"Please," she mumbled under hear breath. She was nearly breathing. She was shuddering in a frozen pose, unable to do anything. "Let me go." Her teeth clattered. "I h-h-have to g-go to…"

She could see that talking to these figures were no use. They didn't stop coming towards her. Nothing would be able to stop them. Some were already licking their lips. They were about to eat her. That was their one and only purpose, and no one, no word, no sentence, would stop them.

"Please," she begged. She would have got on her knees if she were able to. "Don't eat me." Tears gathered in her eyes. She thought that this was the end. This was the ending of her miserable life. A miserable ending.

She could see some of the faces forming a wide, but evil, smile. Some were sniggering, and the others seemed to be captured in their glee for finally capturing something to feast on. Everything was over. She started to sweat all over. Every second felt like a day. She closed her eyes with all the leftover strength she had as the closest figure, with its sharp claws headed towards her, was about to strike.

Screaming louder than ever, she woke up.

Without acknowledging the fact everything was just a nightmare, she slowly opened her eyes, wondering why the figure didn't strike her. The scene in front of her was no longer filled with malicious figures, dirty red, or pitch-black. The thing that greeted her eyes was sunlight. Its warmth seemed to deny the very existence of the horrible things she had just seen. It was so beautiful that she wanted to cry. Instead, she blinked. Now she could see where she was in.

She was in a gigantic room. The wallpapers had a light yellow color, the color sunlight, the color of warmth and brightness. There were two giant sofas; one was light green, the other was beige. They were arranged at an angle of ninety degrees, and inside the angle there was a big, brown table. There was a TV, too. On the ceiling was a giant chandelier. She was somehow inside a giant living room. The size of the living room told her that the whole house would be enormous as well. She looked down at her body. She was on a strange bedlike hammock that was somehow strongly attached to the wall. She looked up to find out that it was probably made out of arachne silk. She winced. Looking at the silk reminded her of a painful memory. To distract herself, she moved her eyes towards her body. She could see bandages and cuts covering her revealed skin. It wasn't then that she acknowledged the pain that rushed to her. It wasn't unbearable, but it was enough for her to wince again. She didn't have to lift up her shirt to find out that she was quite seriously injured.

"Oh, great," she moaned to herself. She now remembered what exactly happened to her before she passed out. It wasn't one of her happiest experiences in the world, but it wasn't her worst, either. She had worse. But still, it explained why she had so many cuts on her. She lifted her shirt using her left hand that was luckily, mostly unharmed, to find many more cuts, all well bandaged. She found one place that seemed to have been cared for the most, judging by the impressive amount of bandages around it. There must be a big, ugly one right there, she thought. She gave out a big sigh.

Then a light bulb turned on inside her head. She used her left hand and felt the clothes she were wearing, and took a good look at them. After a bit of observation and touching, hope started to flutter in her heart, although her face didn't show it that much. She knew these clothes. She was familiar with them. She wore these clothes before. It was hers.

"You woke up, miss. I thought it would take at least another day for you to wake up."

She turned her head to find someone talking to her. She was a young woman in a wheelchair. How could she not notice her approaching her? Satsuki didn't linger on that question for more than a glimpse. That wasn't what was important right now.

"You were greatly damaged. It's a miracle that…"

"Sorry to interrupt you, miss," Satsuki interrupted her. She couldn't wait. She had to ask her something right now. "But could it be that I am in the house of Mr. Kimihito Kurusu?"

The woman was obviously startled. "Y-Yes, you are, but how did you…"

Satsuki couldn't hear the rest of the sentence. She was too thrilled, relieved, and happy at the same time, that she couldn't pay attention to anything else except for the emotion she was feeling. She almost felt like crying, although she didn't really cry.

She came back. She was finally back home.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I got too absorbed," she scratched her head. Her voice was huskier than I imagined it to be.  
"That's okay, Miss Satsuki. One can feel very happy to come back home after a very long period of time," I smiled at her. She seemed to be taken aback.

"How do you know my name? Have we ever met before?" She asked back. She had a rather cute face.

"No, but I've heard about you from my Dear Sir," I replied, quietly clapping my hands together. The action was a habit of mine; it just came out naturally. "I apologize. I guess it was rude to act as if I knew you before I introduced myself properly. My name is Meroune Lorelei Du Neptune," I bowed a bit as I lifted my skirt weakly with my fingers, revealing my tail. "Please call me Mero. I am currently residing at your brother's house as an exchange student of the extraspecies exchange program."

"Huh?" She seemed quite surprised. I first thought that she was surprised at the fact that I was a mermaid. "Why would a princess like yourself come as an exchange student to my brother's place? Did he find a gold mine or something while I was gone and became super rich? I don't remember our family having anything to do with royalty or whatsoever."

"Wait a bit," I stopped her. How did she know that I was a princess? "How do you know that I'm a princess? Our kingdom's most influential members are concealed from human public!"

"That wasn't too hard to find out. Oh my gosh," she struggled as she started to move herself from the bed to get in a kneeling position and bow. It seemed difficult, regarding her physical injuries. "Forgive me and my manners, your highness. I had no intention of insolence."

"Please don't. I beg you!" I stopped her, flailing my arms. I didn't want anyone to serve me as a princess while I was in this program. I was fed up with all those manners. "Please, just call me Mero. That's what everyone in this house calls me. And please, don't bow. You're still a patient, you should be resting. Besides," I said, as I helped her lie down again. Her way of speaking and acting seemed much more mature than a 13 year old. "I don't want anyone to treat me like royalty while I'm in this program, especially you, Miss Satsuki. You're my Dear Sir's younger sister." I could feel my face turning a bit red at the mention of him.

"Wait a minute. There are other people in this house? How many? Are they exchange students too? And 'Dear Sir'? Did my brain go a bit crazy, or did you actually call my brother like that? And…" She seemed like she was totally taken by surprise. Which is… Well, I should admit that it completely made sense.

"Calm down a bit, Miss Satsuki. I can't answer all of those questions at once."

"Okay, I'll ask one at a time," she said, her face still looking surprised, but a bit more relaxed. "But after you take out the 'Miss' in front of my name when you call me."

"But I'm used to putting a 'Miss' in front of names, Miss Satsuki," I protested. "It's uncomfortable for me not to use it anymore."

"Fine, then. I'll call you in your full name from now on. I'll even add a 'princess' in front of it to make it totally formal."

"Hey!"

"Let's make a deal then," she said. She made a crooked smile. I could see that while she had that smile, she was not a young girl that could be easily messed up with. "I call you Mero, and you call me Satsuki. Deal?" She offered her hand.

I sighed. "Okay…" I reluctantly accepted her hand and shook it. She was totally different from her brother. Yes. Totally different.

"Okay then, Mero, question number one. If I am in my brother's house, why is it so freaking big? The living room itself got at least three times bigger!"

"Oh, that's because Dear Sir accepted a lot of exchange students to live in this house. There are six-no, seven, exchange students including me living in this house."

"Whoa," She seemed like she was about to add another exclamation at the end, but she stopped herself. "Okay, then. Who are these other six exchange students?"

I went on explaining about my 6 housemates. I could see her twitch her eyebrows whenever I started talking about a new one and their species, but she didn't show any more reaction than that. At least there's one similarity between her and her brother. They both are good at accepting the fact that there is a lamia, harpy, centaur, mermaid, slime, arachne, and a dullahan residing in their house. Thinking about it, she didn't seem to be too surprised to find out that I was a mermaid before. So she had her brother's best quality.

She seemed very alarmed to hear that all of them were girls, though.

"Seriously?" She asked, and I had to give her an affirmative nod. "Wow." I couldn't help myself from blushing at that point. Although she didn't say anything, I had a feeling that she already kind of knew the relationship between us.

"Please don't get the wrong idea, though. It's not like…"

"Oh, oh, I get it." She interrupted. "Sure, sure." I could swear that she most certainly didn't get it. "I guess I'll just have to ask bro myself. Jeez, he got himself into some stuff. Say, who does all the cooking?"

"Um… Dear Sir."

"The laundry?"

"…Dear sir."

"The dishes? The cleaning?"

"We do help out every once in a while, but… mostly Dear sir does all the work."

"Holy shit, he got himself into some serious stuff."

I had to laugh at that point. I was starting to like her more and more

"We try to help out, but we just end up making more trouble, so…"

"Okay then, that's cool. He makes a good housewife anyway. But then, if there are so many people in this house, where are they?"

"Oh, today is a Saturday, and on Saturdays all of them go to Sports Club Kobold to work out."

"Sports Club Kobold? Is it a name for a fitness center or something?"

"Yes, but it was made especially for all kinds of extraspecies! Apparently since we can't move outside without our host family, we don't get enough exercise, so we decided to go there every Saturday, when Dear Sir doesn't have to work on his part time job."

"Things have changed a lot, haven't they," she murmured. She soon spoke again in her regular voice. "But then, how come you didn't go with them?"

"We recently renovated the house, making my pool extra large so that I could get enough exercise inside the house…"

"…Uh, our house now has an indoor pool?"

"Yes, it was renovated that way so that I could stay here. And besides, someone had to stay behind, just in case you, Mi-no, Satsuki, woke up."

"You had to stay out of the fun because of me? I'm really sorry. I really am. Why don't you go join them right now? I'll spend some time alone, looking around the house." She seemed sincerely apologetic. There was another similarity between her and her brother. I was quite afraid to face her if she were to wake up when I was alone. I guess I have been worrying for nothing.

"No need to do so, Mi-Satsuki." Not putting a 'Miss' in front of the name was challenging. "It's not like we have a lot of fun while we're there; the owner is very energetic and kind, but quite strict. Besides, as I told you, I have a really big pool. And I can't go out without my host family accompanying me."

"I forgot about that law. Pretty inconvenient, huh?" She made a face. It somehow resembled the face of her brother. "When do they return?"

"Actually, it's about time they came back. I'm pretty sure they'll come back any time now-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I could hear the door opening. Both of our heads headed to the direction of the sound. Her head moved in an impressive speed that for a moment I was worried she might break her neck.

"We're back home!"

"Mero-!"

Miss Papi was the first one to come into sight. She rushed, no, half-flew into the house. She was always energetic, and it seems like a nice workout in the right place put some more energy in her. I just hope she doesn't accidently crash into the wall or someth-

 _Thump_

"Ow, ow, oww!"

Oh dear. I sighed, and I could hear that I wasn't the only one sighing. The sound of comments, sighing, and walking grew louder, and they soon came close enough so that I could see them.

"Yup, another head-butt into the wall."

"And I thought I warned her enough."

"Really, Papi…"

"Papi, are you okay?"

I rolled my wheelchair closer to them.

"Welcome back, everyone!"

"Hey there, Mero. Did anything special happen in particular?"

"Dear Sir, she woke up."

"What? Already?"

He quickly turned his gaze from me towards the hammock bed. I also looked over, only to find Miss Satsuki, sitting upright. The afternoon sunlight that came through the windows was shining from behind her, giving her a somewhat glorious presence. She was looking towards this direction as well, and her eyes were focused on one person. She smiled weakly and held her right hand.

"Hey there, bro. Long time no see, huh? It's been like, maybe two-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. Dear Sir rushed towards her, in a speed that seemed even faster than Miss Papi's a moment ago. Miraculously, he somehow avoided hitting the furniture before he caught his sister in a tight embrace that made her stop speaking. The rest of us, astonished by the sudden speed, just stood in our places that only gave a clear view of his back. The brother and sister stayed just like that with no movement for a few seconds, until we could see his shoulders shaking.

Yes, he was crying.

"Thank God," he somehow made out those words as he sobbed. He was nearly choking. He sniffed once before he spoke his next two words. "You're back." Without loosening his embrace, he stayed like that for quite a long time, his shoulders shaking and his voice trembling.

Up to that point, I still couldn't get the fantasies of tragedies out of my mind. Although I wanted a happy ending for myself, I still wanted a bit of tragedy within it. But the thing I witnessed that day changed me. The sight of a truly perfect happy ending that makes people burst out in tears of happiness was something that I have never seen before, and I doubt that I would be able to see anything like that ever again. It was the most beautiful scene I've ever seen, and no scene from The Little Mermaid will be able to surpass its beauty. I smiled as I watched the reunion in silence. My heart tickled from giving up one of its oldest desires. I have changed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The siblings were soon by themselves in the spacious living room. The other girls felt like they should make some space for, what Rachnera called, 'an unneccesarily emotional reunion', with a hint of a smile on her lips that she failed to hide. They went to enjoy some peace after hearing a few hours of Polt yelling at them to 'put some more muscle in it'. In Mero's case, she was having a peaceful swim in her pool, which she wasn't able to enjoy during the time the other girls were working out. Just in case Satsuki might wake up during that time, Kimihito asked her to stay in the first floor while they were out. Mero willingly obliged, and since she couldn't go up the stairs by herself, she had to wait for the others to come and carry her upstairs.

Kimihito didn't let go of his younger sister for a while. When he finally did, he was quite surprised to find her panting for dear breath.

"I'm sorry, May! You should have told me if you were suffocating, I mean, I'm really sorry!" He flailed his hands. He was very surprised, mostly because he found out how much he was used to the girls and their overly-powerful hugs, that he seemed to be unintentionally mimicking them as well.

"Whoa, whoa. Don't freak out so much, I'm fine. Although I've got to say that you seemed to have earned some extra muscles," she chuckled. "Is it because you're facing 7 girls at the same time?"

"What? No! I mean, yes, in some perspective, but not in that meaning! Listen, they're all like family-" His face was totally red and about to burst. If he was flailing just a bit ago, he was now completely frantic. He was moving his body quite pathetically as if he was trying to prove his innocence with it.

"Yeah, sure. I get it. Having 7 very beautiful girls living in the same house makes you hard to contain yourself, doesn't it?" She was about to burst into laughter at this point. She just loved it when she teased her brother. He was so innocent; teasing him was seriously entertaining.

"May!"

"Don't be shy, bro. You're just a guy, after all."

"Seriously, May…" He gave up. There was no way he would be able to win over his younger sister. But then, he never really wanted to, nor did he really try. He was fine with it. Satsuki enjoyed it, it made her smile, and that was enough for him.

"Just kidding," her face changed to make a slight smile. "You're just the same, aren't you, Kimihito Kurusu?" She reached out her hand and grabbed his hand.

"Of course I am," he replied with a full smile. "I always knew you would come back. How could I change?"

"Seriously, Kimi," she rolled her eyes. "You didn't even change that way of talking, either."

"It is now a part of me, May. I really can't speak in another way. Besides, I just feel like this is how I should speak. I tried speaking differently, and it felt… unright, if that's even a word."

Satsuki smiled. She was starting to get a grasp on why he was surrounded by 7 girls. Perhaps this was the reason. She always thought that this character trait of his was totally likeable.

"I'm not criticizing you, you know. I like that part of my brother." She grasped his hand even harder. "Now I feel like I'm really back at home, you talking like that, calling me May."

He smiled. He was also truly cherishing this moment. He never felt happier for a few years. He looked at her face once more, just to make sure that he wasn't daydreaming. That was when he fully recognized the bruises on her faces, and on her full body. His face turned serious.

"May, what happened to you?"

The young girl's face turned serious as well. Different memories passed through her head. How should she explain? She gave out a sigh.

"It's a long story." She paused for a bit before she continued. "Really, it's a long story…" She bit her lip. She had a lot in her head, and it wasn't all about how she was going to explain it all. There were some other things that were bothering her.

"Listen, Kimihito," she looked at him straight in the eye. "I need some time to organize things. My thoughts and memories are all messed up right now, and I really need some time to get a full grasp of it."

"Satsuki Kurusu," he tried to interrupt, but she stopped him, blocking his lips with her index finger.

"A lot of things happened, Kimi. I swear that the past 2 years weren't the happiest 2 years of my life. I went through a lot, and I mean a lot," she was about to continue when this time Kimihito interrupted.

"Okay then, take your time."

"Huh?" She wasn't expecting this reaction.

"Take your time," he repeated. He moved his lips into a smile again. "I can understand if it's hard for you to talk about everything right now. You would need some time to recover and get used to being back home. All of this asking can wait. After all," He looked into her eyes. "What really matters is that you're back at home, safe and sound. Although you aren't totally unharmed, you'll heal up soon, and you have all four limbs on you! So it can all wait. Although you will have to explain everything someday."

"Hey, bro, you really should be skeptical every once in a while."

Kimihito embraced his sister once more, this time much weaker. "I don't have to be skeptical about this. I'm happy that you're back. I'm happy that I can see you again. I'm happy that you came back home in time so that I can help you. That's all."

Satsuki made a huge smile. He really didn't change. Those 2 years didn't change him at all. She hugged him back. It was great to be back home.

* * *

"So, I guess I should introduce myself properly. My name is Satsuki Kurusu, and I'm this guy's," she pointed at the black haired man that was finishing up cooking dinner, that was somehow still keeping the color of his eyes. "Little sister. I thank you all for taking me in when I needed help." She bowed her head to show her gratitude.

"Hi~ I'm Papi! Papi the harpy!"

"My name is Suu!"

"Hello, there. A harpy and a slime, huh? I guess we'll get along fine!" she said with a smile, giving them each a high-five.

"I'm Miia, and I'm a lamia," the lamia said brightly. "Nice to meet you! So you're Darling's younger sister!" Her eyes glistened from imagining the help she could get from this young girl. She probably knows his childhood stories, his preferences, and so much more. If only she could use them properly to seduce him!

"'Darling'? My, my, my brother has a lot of nicknames. Nice to meet you, too," she chuckled.

"I guess I don't have to repeat introducing myself, do I? Please, just don't call me in my full name. And by the way, you should mainly thank these two ladies," the mermaid said as she gestured towards Rachnera and Centorea, "for helping you. I'm embarrassed to say this, but the rest of us were quite skeptical about letting you in the house."

"Hey! I wasn't skeptical!"

"Miss Miia, please. We all know how you were like that day."

The lamia had to stop talking. She was right, after all. She was depressed, thinking that she lost a point from her sister in law. She started to think that the mermaid said that one purpose, aiming for this. She scowled at her. The mermaid pretended not to notice her with an innocent smile. Satsuki made a face that spoke 'it's okay, I would have done the same.' The introducing time went on.

"It is an honor to meet you, my ladyship! You have my loyalty, being my master's sister! T'was an honor to have been able to help you! The name of your servant is Centorea-"

"Perhaps Shianus?" Satsuki guessed, taking everyone by surprise. No one told her about Centorea, right? How on earth does she know?

"My ladyship, how do you know?"

Her face turned apologetic. "I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't act like I know you too well before you introduced yourself."

"No, my lady, 'tis absolutely fine! I was just merely curious…"

"Well," the young girl took a sip from her water cup before she continued. "I actually met your mother and your whole tribe before."

"What? I have come from Europe!"

"Yes, I know. England, wasn't it? I met them about a month ago." Satsuki smirked. "I traveled quite a lot, you see." She took another look at the startled centaur before she spoke again. "You look a lot like your mother, who was, uh, quite formidable. It's hard to forget her. You have her blonde hair and her blue eyes, and in fact, a lot of her in you. I've heard her saying that her daughter was at Japan. I thought it was worth a guess."

Centorea, greatly startled, was about to start saying something, until Rachnera stopped her.

"Can't you two talk together later? I'm sick of waiting to introduce myself." She faced the young girl. Although she was doing a good job on concealing it, she was very nervous, and she just couldn't stand waiting anymore. She knew that the biggest cut was made by one of her brethren. Would she be afraid of her? Better find out sooner than later, she thought.

"Hello there, young traveler," she said, slightly smiling, trying to make a friendly approach. "The name's Rachnera Arachnera. Nice to meet you. I don't have to tell you that I'm an Arachne, do I?"

Satsuki looked at her. Whatever was going inside her head or her heart, she didn't look scared of her. In fact, her face nearly changed.

"Yes, you don't. I've seen an arachne before. Glad to meet you too," she replied black with a smile. Her black eyes didn't seem too affected. Rachnera ended up being the one surprised, along with Centorea. What was in this kid's head? Rachnera couldn't figure out whether if she was ignorant of her attacker's species, simply doesn't care, too stupid to know anything, a very good actor, or acting so that she wouldn't make her feel uncomfortable. Whichever case it was, she wasn't too happy about it. Her eyes narrowed. She really hated liars.

At one point, Satsuki stared back at her. The stare was so short that only Rachnera herself could sense it. The others were busy talking among themselves. At first she felt like smirking. So this is her true feelings towards her. How could the girl not hate arachnes? The bruise she got was incomparable to the one she accidently inflicted on Ren. And it didn't seem like her cut was accidental, either. Her hating the Arachne species as a whole was inevitable. She would have to accept her hatred and understand it. She was Kimihito's younger sister after all. To earn his heart, Rachnera would have to bear with that.

Those kinds of thoughts were going through were head when she felt something strange in that stare. She never felt something like this before. It made her feel very weird, as if she wasn't herself for that slight moment. It was as if she was feeling someone else's emotions within herself, which made no sense at all. And she could swear that during that short time, the girl's eyes were red.

Being an expert on keeping poker-faces, she managed to keep her facial expression so that no one else could notice, but her instincts told her that Satsuki, who was now looking at Lala, knew what happened inside her. She eyed the girl carefully. She was no ordinary 13 year old human. In fact, she wasn't sure if she was even an ordinary human.

Regardless of what was going inside Rachnera's head, the introducing session was continuing smoothly.

"I am a dullahan, death incarnate! I am the grim reaper, the soul-taker, and the one who serves Hades of the Underworld!" Lala bursted out of nowhere and started to introduce herself. She then continued ranting about how fearful she was, using almost every kind of death-related substance they have ever heard of. The others, including Kimihito, sighed giving the 'there she goes again' kind of look. Expecting the girl to freak out or wimp in fear, she looked at Satsuki triumphantly, only to find out that she wasn't like that at all.

"I know that you're a dullahan. Nothing else would explain your skin color." Satsuki shrugged, as if a dullahan was something you see every morning. "What's your name, Miss Dullahan?"

"….Lala," she said, her face red of embarrassment. She hid her face behind her hands. She hated it whenever she had to introduce her name, her un-intimidating, almost foolish sounding name, to a person she newly met. It was as if she was stripping herself naked. In a way, this was even more embarrassing than that. And the girl wasn't afraid, or even the least bit intimidated by her. It was as if she already knew that more than half of what she said was actually made up. And she was so young. This was worse than facing Ms. Smith.

The others weren't confused as Rachnera or as embarrassed as Lala, but they were all quite astounded. The girl appeared up in a bloody mess last night, woke up today, isn't the least bit surprised by their species, knows one of their mothers, and manages to embarrass the dullahan at their first meeting, not to mention that even themselves were fooled by her when they first met her. And she looked like she was still 12 or 13. Kimihito was no exception, but he didn't seem as surprised as the others. His sister was never normal, even when she was 6 years old. He got used to her being able to do strange things and say strange stuff. Besides, he hadn't been able to see her for 2 years. Who knows where she went and what she went through? He just gave out a sigh, pledging that he would one day listen to every single event that she went through during those years. He had a feeling that she went through a lot.

"My lady, may I ask you a question?" Centorea was the first one to speak up.

"If you would please not call me 'my lady,'" Satsuki replied. Meroune watched with amusement as she watched the situation that almost felt like a deja-vu.

"I cannot do that, my lady!" The centaur replied, her voice filled with determination.

"I'm not your master. Please, can't you call me by my name? 'My lady' sounds too off-date."

"Why, it is the duty of a centaur to honor their master and his family! It goes against chivalry not to do so! Please allow me to fulfill my duty!" She was yelling at such a volume that Rachnera, who had now returned back to noticing what was happening, had to cover her ears.

Satsuki gave out a sigh. "You even sound like her, too. Fine, then. Then at least don't call me 'my ladyship.' Let's call it a deal."

"Yes, my lady!" The centaur yelled with a triumphant voice. Meroune was slightly disappointed, for she was waiting to actually see Centorea drop her honorifics. And she thought that maybe Satsuki would be capable of doing that.

"What were you about to ask me, anyway?"

"My lady, would it be insolent for me to ask how old my lady is?"

Satsuki scratched her forehead, as if she totally forgot about the concept of age and was regaining it. It took her about 5 seconds until she answered, "I guess I'm 16 by now, since my birthday passed about two weeks ago."

There was a moment of silence.

 **"** **WHAAAATTTT?!"**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

And that was the last thing any of the girls were able to say until they finished dinner. Right after they said that, Kimihito came up to the table, bringing his complete masterpieces with him. His cooking skills were always impressive, but today's dinner was definitely his best work. Everyone was too busy eating mouthful after mouthful to say anything, and they soon forgot how surprised they were.

After 20 minutes of ferocious eating, one by one the girls let go of their spoons and forks, too full to even move a muscle. At least that was the case for most of the girls. Even after eating at least as much as any of the other girls, Satsuki was acting perfectly fine, as if she had a single sandwich instead of a heap of food.

"You need some more food, May?" asked Kimihito, who didn't seem surprised. It seems like Satsuki had always been a very heavy eater. But that was only speaking for Kimihito; the other girls were startled to hear that this small human actually had leftover space in her stomach.

"No need for more, bro," she grinned. "I've had enough, and eating more wouldn't allow me to sleep comfortably tonight. But thanks for the offer anyway. Now that's what I call a fine meal. I haven't had one like this since… well, I can't really remember. You still have those cooking skills, huh?"

He laughed sheepishly. "Well, I'm glad you like it. I did have this good feeling when I was cooking today." He turned to everyone else. "Was everything okay? Like the stew and meat and all… Was it not too salty, not too sweet?"

"Okay?" Rachnera snorted. "You should give more credit to yourself, Honey."

"It was perfect, darling!"

"Boss, it was awesome!"

"It even exceeds the taste and flavor of the pomegranates of the Underworld! Why, this food surely would have made Persephone stay in the Underworld for the rest of her eternal life!"

Suu and Papi surely couldn't understand what Lala just said. They faced the others, their eyes filled with curiosity. Rachnera and Mero just sighed. There's no way they could separate Lala from all the underworld and death stuff.

The sighing was interrupted from a sudden yawn.

"Oops, didn't mean to let that slip out," said Satsuki, her eyes already half closed.

"May. If you're tired, you should take a shower and go to sleep. You need some good rest."

"Huh? No need to. That just accidently-" Her words were interrupted with another yawn that she couldn't stop. "Ugh."

"See? You need some sleep. Go take a shower." Kimihito was almost sounding like a father, a gentle, caring father, at this point. The girls were looking at this sight with deep interest. Their host was always a good guy, but he never gave out this parent-like vibe. It made him look a bit different. Not to mention that he actually looked quite natural at playing the father role. They quietly watched the interaction between the siblings.

"Fine then," Satsuki replied, rubbing her eyes. "Where are the towels? And more importantly, where should I find the clothes to change into?"

"The towels are inside the bathroom. They're stacked up in the shelves. And talking about the clothes…" Kimihito thought for a bit. "Follow me. I guess I'll have to show you the house around."

Satsuki rolled her eyes. "Is my imagination going wild, or are my clothes separated in every part of the house, and we have to retrieve them by exploring every corner of it? Is it like a quest or something?"

"Uh… Not quite like that, but I guess it is kind of similar." Kimihito replied, scratching his head.

"Just perfect," she sighed. "I liked our cozy old house."

Kimihito was up on his feet now. "Get up and get moving, young sis. Time for you to see how much the house had changed," he said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," the young girl got up from her seat and followed her older brother. That left the rest of the girls seated around the dinner table, looking at each other with round eyes.

Suu was the first one to break the silence once the two were out of their sight. "Master is acting differently," she said quietly.

"Yes, indeed. Dear Sir seemed like he was a totally different person!" Mero was smiling as she said that. Who knows what's in her head.

"It's so unfair!" Miia exclaimed, her face slightly red with jealousy. "Why doesn't darling speak like that to me?"

Rachnera just rolled her eyes. Centorea was the one to answer her.

"Miia, there are things to be jealous, and things not to be," she said with her fingers interlocked. "She's master's sister. Family bonds are known to be quite tight. Besides, they haven't met for two years, as I've heard. They have every reason to be close to each other."

Miia still thought that it was unfair, but she couldn't think of a logical rebuttal, so she had no option but to quiet down.

"Still, everything is a little strange. She just appeared at the doorstep, terribly injured. She turns out to be master's younger sister that randomly disappeared two years ago. She calls herself a traveler, and seemed to have met all kinds of liminals." Centorea wished to add 'including my mother,' but she kept that thought to herself.

"I don't have a good feeling about her, either." Rachnera joined in, her eyes turning keen. "She's too… masked up. By the way she talks and acts, I would believe it if she said she was Honey's age. Yet she says that she's 16, and she looks 13. I'm not too sure if that makes any sense." Her red eyes were glistening with a somewhat dangerous looking vibe.

"But we shouldn't jump into conclusions!" the mermaid joined the conversation. "Surely, she is a little… different. There is no doubt that she is not a normal 16 year old human, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she is…" she struggled to find the right word. "Bad." She made a face. She didn't like the only word that came into her mind. Nevertheless, she continued speaking. "Besides, Dear Sir seems to appreciate her presence in the house. I've never seen his eyes stay so brown for so long, and I believe everyone else agrees to that."

The others couldn't disagree to her. She had a point.

"Then what should we do?" asked Miia.

"Wait." Mero replied with a hint of royal aura that she didn't give out so often. "Wait and see how the events unravel. We can make judgements then."

No one protested. That seemed like the best solution for now.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. This house has 4 bathrooms, 8 rooms, and an attic. The bathroom on the first floor, next to Centorea's room, is the biggest, and the other three are similar in size. Even the smaller ones are bigger than a normal room in a normal house. Centorea and Miia are the only ones that have their rooms on the first floor, and everyone else has their rooms on the second floor. In order of the vicinity from the staircase, there is Papi's room, Suu's room, your room, and Mero's room, and two empty rooms. The 2nd floor hallway has a staircase that leads to the attic, where Rachnera lives in. My room is next to Mero's room, but because this house was recently renovated, you didn't have time to organize my stuff in the room, so it's currently empty. My stuff is organized in crates, now placed in the attic or in your room. Did I get everything right?"

"Yup, that's about it," Kimihito replied with a smile.

"And these," she held the clothes that were in her hands, "are what I will change into for tonight, and I'll sleep in your room for today."

"Perfect!"

"Okay, then. Whew, that was a lot of information to cram in my head. Which bathroom should I use?"

Kimihito shrugged. "Use any one you choose. But it's best to stick to one bathroom once you've chose one, since it's annoying to carry your toothbrush around from this room to that room."

"Understood." She looked at the new toothbrush that was in her hands.

"Now, get yourself in the shower."

"Got it. Stop nagging," she grinned. "Now go clean up and do your stuff. I'll help you from tomorrow." She turned away and headed towards the bathroom in the second floor, right across from her room.

Kimihito gave out a sigh of relief. He managed to do one thing. He still had things to do for tonight.

* * *

"Darling! You took so long!" Miia said as she tried to get closer to him as possible. If it wasn't for Centorea and Rachnera that were giving her dangerous looks, she would have attached herself to him.

"Sorry, everyone. The house is big, and it needed a bit of explaining." He turned to face all of his housemates. "Listen, there're some things that you should know about Satsuki, and I thought that it would be less awkward if I were to tell them to you when she isn't here."

The girls gathered up closely with interest. Some looked more interested than others.

"First thing to know: don't try to outsmart her. I know it sounds ridiculous, but she can be really smart if she wants to. I hate to admit, I've never won an argument against her, even though I'm 4 years older than her," He looked back, seeing some of them were trying very hard not to laugh. "I'm not joking. I'm serious."

Still seeing that some of his housemates weren't believing him, by the looks of their red faces that are really trying not to laugh, he decided to just give up and move on to the second point. They'll get to know in one way or another.

"Master, may I ask you a question before you move on?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, Cerea. What is it?"

"Why do you call her May instead of Satsuki? Is that supposed to be a nickname?"

"Oh that… That's just a small thing between us." He slightly smiled. "Well, Satsuki is the Japanese way of saying the 5th month of the year, right? And May is the English way of saying the exact same thing. Satsuki could be a bit mouthy to say, so I just came up with that one. No deep meaning to that."

"I see, master." Centorea nodded.

"Okay, next point. She has a bit of what humans might call ADHD."

"Boss, what's ATHD?"

"ADHD, Papi. It's a kind of illness that doesn't allow people to sit down for a long time."

"You mean Satsuki's gonna run around all day and play? That's great!" Papi's eyes gleamed with anticipation.

"Well, that's not exactly the case… That's why I said 'might' in the first place. You see, she can sit down for a long time. If she has something to do, that is. It would be more accurate to say that she has to keep on doing something. She just can't stand it if she is doing nothing for more than a certain amount of time. She can be doing anything; reading, origami, drawing, basketball, singing, and like a few dozen more things that I just can't think of now. Just don't get too surprised if she's constantly occupying herself with something to do."

"That's… an interesting quality. Although I can do better without it," Rachnera said.

"Don't worry. She won't ask you to join her. She didn't ask me, at least. And I can assure you that she won't get on your nerves. Just leave her alone if she's doing something. She never really liked it when I interrupted her, so I guess it would be the same for the rest of you guys."

"If you say so, Honey," the Arachne replied, her eyes still keen.

"Next, don't ask her about her past, like where she was during those 2 years. I know you're curious, but I told her that the explaining could wait." He paused for a moment before he continued. "This is more like a personal request. I want to give her some time for her to prepare her mind and heart before she tells anything to anyone. I think she needs that time. Would you guys help me out?"

The girls had no other choice but to reluctantly muffle small 'yes's, although they weren't too happy about it. He rarely requested anything, and this time he seemed quite serious, too. How could you say 'no' to that? They did exchange some dubious looks, though.

"Thank you, everyone. I really mean it." He smiled in a way that backed up 'I really mean it' nonverbally. "She means so much to me, and I want her to be as comfortable as she could be while she's at home."

'Not that we couldn't figure that out by now,' the girls thought.

Kimihito briefly looked at each of their eyes. He wasn't too good at figuring out girl's minds, but he wasn't dumb enough to not notice that some of them didn't like his sister too much. He slightly sighed. "I understand if you don't like her right away. She's difficult to understand, and could be quite mysterious in some ways. I'm not asking you to like her as much as I do. Just… Just give her a chance."

Not able to receive an answer from any of them, he added in another sentence. "Could you do that please, for me?"

Now who could say no to that? The girls had no choice but to nod.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Centorea woke up as usual. She didn't sleep that well, with so many thoughts running around her head, but that wasn't enough to stop the biological rhythm of the centaur. After changing into running clothes for her morning run, she stepped out of her room. The sun wasn't fully out, and the house was quiet. Of course, this was nothing special. None of her housemates were exactly early birds. Kimihito was an exception, but even he woke up later than her. She didn't have much of a problem with that, though. Her master needed sleep.

This was why she was very surprised to see someone sitting on the sofa as she passed by the living room, trying not to make a noise.

"My lady! Why are you up at this hour?"

Satsuki looked at her. The young girl didn't look sleepy at all, and it seemed like she had already finished washing herself for the morning. And unlike the centaur, she didn't seem surprised to see someone else at this time of the morning.

"Is there anything wrong with that? Am I, perhaps, disturbing you?" With the living room still dark, it was hard to read the facial expressions of the girl. It didn't help that her face wasn't facing the weak sunlight. All this just made the centaur freak out.

"No, my lady! I was just merely curious. Forgive my insolence, my lady!" Her flailing arms were enough evidence to prove that she really didn't want to get on bad terms with the girl.

The centaur was surprised to hear laughter instead of an angry voice. The laughter went on for a few seconds.

"My-my lady?"

"Oh seriously, Centorea," Satsuki said, walking up close to her. Now that she was closer, Centorea could see that she was shedding a tear due to laughing too much. "You know that I'm not this merciless king of the medieval ages." She chuckled a bit more before she spoke again. "Stop being so upright formal, Centorea. I know how strict centaur manners and rules can be, but no need to apply them to me." She grinned at the end of the sentence.

"Y-yes, my lady." The centaur was still quite dumbfounded, not able to fully accept what just happened.

"And it would be perfect if you dropped that 'my lady' thing," Satsuki mumbled to herself. The centaur wasn't able to hear it. "Anyway, you're up for your morning jog, aren't you?"

The centaur was surprised again. "Yes. How did you know?"

"Haven't I told you that I've been in a centaur village not long ago?" She made a playful smile. "I would be an idiot if I couldn't remember that centaurs went on morning runs. After all, all of those hoof sounds rushing in the morning didn't allow me to sleep in."

"I see." Centorea, back in her normal self now, remembered what Satsuki told her about meeting her mother once.

"I won't hold you up for any longer. You have something to do." She lifted her arm, probably trying to pat her on the shoulder, but the bandages that were covering up her shoulder didn't allow that movement. She sighed and lowered her arm before she spoke again. "Stupid bandages. Anyway, hope you have fun on your run today. I'll prepare some carrots by the time you come back, since I have a feeling that most of the people in the house still won't be up by then."

Centorea opened her mouth, trying to say that there was no need for her, her master's family, to do that work. Satsuki placed her index finger on her own lips, as if she was telling a kid to shush. Which did look kind of awkward; after all, Centorea was about 20 centimeters taller than Satsuki.

"No need to refuse. Now that I'm in the house, I'm probably your host family as well. While I am, I'm not accepting any 'I'm fine's." She grinned. "Now get on your morning run."

"Yes, my lady!" The centaur energetically replied and headed towards the door. When she reached it, she slightly turned back to see the young girl waving at her.

'She might actually be a quite decent human,' Centorea thought to herself as she turned the doorknob and headed outside.

* * *

"Master"

There was no response.

"Master?"

No response this time as well. He was sleeping very soundly, with a very peaceful face that made the slime feel sorry to wake him up. But she came here for a reason. She moved the tentacle on her head and poked him slightly in the face, especially the eye.

"Mmm…." The young man made a sound and moved a bit, but that was the only response she got. The slime had no choice. She climbed up to the bed and caught his face in an embrace that naturally led to him getting absorbed into her liquid body.

"Mmmmph!" Knowing by instinct that he wasn't breathing, Kimihito tried to scream, but those were the only sounds that actually came out. Being literally drowned, his voice couldn't properly escape from Suu's liquid body. He thrashed about, trying to get himself out by pulling Suu off him, but of course, the efforts were futile. It wasn't until Suu decided that he was fully awake that she freed him. Very much awake and panting for breath, Kimihito looked at his assaulter.

"Suu, what was that for…"

"Satsuki told me to wake you up!" Suu said innocently, with a big smile on her face. Kimihito sighed. Suu was too much of a child to be told that waking him up shouldn't lead her to drowning him. Not to even mention that she wouldn't find the act quite dangerous, with all the crazy events that had happened in this house. Near death experiences were nothing new for him.

"There would have been no need to, Suu. My alarm clock would have woke me up at…" He turned his eyes to the clock, only to find out that it was already over 8:00. "Crap!" was his instant reaction. "Crap, why is it so late? I set up the alarm clock at 6:30! I need to prepare breakfast!"

With those words, he bolted outside the room in his pajamas, totally forgetting what happened to him this morning. Suu, left alone, tilted her head, her tentacles forming a shape of a question mark.

* * *

Miia slithered towards the kitchen energetically. Although it is true that she almost never wakes up by herself, there are those rare occasions when she wakes up by herself. Today was one of those days. Proud of her accomplishment, she was heading towards the appetizing smell, sure that it was the smell of her darling making breakfast.

"Good morning, Darling!" She called out, her face full with a smile. That smile changed into an expression of curiosity as she found out that it wasn't her darling that was busily moving in the kitchen.

"Who- Satsuki?" The lamia blinked. She wasn't expecting her darling's sister here.

"Sorry I'm not your darling, Miia." Satsuki wasn't looking at her direction, too occupied with the cooking she had to do. She already knew who used which nickname when calling her brother, so finding out that the owner of the voice was Miia wasn't too difficult. "Just wait a bit. Breakfast will be ready soon!"

Before Miia could respond, she heard the sound of a wheelchair. To confirm her predictions, Meroune entered the kitchen area on her wheelchair, with Rachnera, who was pushing the wheelchair for her.

"Good morning, Dear Si- Huh?" The mermaid's morning greeting was stopped as she realized that there was a different person in the kitchen from what she was expecting.

"Huh? Where's Honey?" Rachnera questioned, her eyes getting bigger seeing Satsuki in the kitchen.

"Lady Satsuki thought that it would be wise to let Master sleep in for a change," said Centorea, who was standing by the kitchen table all long as she chewed on a carrot stick. "So she volunteered to make breakfast instead."

"Why? Is Dear Sir sick?" The mermaid asked with concern in her voice.

The girls could hear a chuckle between the sizzling and chopping sounds. "No, he's absolutely fine and healthy. He just seemed a bit tired. And he could use a day off, or should I say, breakfast off, don't you think? It's a Sunday after all." Satsuki paused for a moment to flip a fried egg on the frying pan. "The poor guy looked like he was doing too much work. I asked Suu to go wake him and Papi up a bit ago, so I guess both of them will be over soon."

As soon as that sentence ended, everyone in the kitchen could hear someone rushing down the stairs vigorously.

"Speak of the devil," mumbled Rachnera.

Kimihito was nearly yelling as he dashed towards the kitchen. "Everyone, I'm so sorry! I don't know why, but my alarm clock didn't work and I-" He paused when he finally realized the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen. "Is someone cooking? It smells good, so I guess it's not Miia…"

"Darling!" The lamia protested, making a face as she faced the young man as he entered the kitchen area.

"Nice guessing there, Honey," the Arachne chuckled. "Check out who's in the kitchen."

"Satsuki? Why are you here? I told you to get a nice rest, you're still a patient! And I thought I told you that I can handle the housework-"

"Cut it out, bro," Satsuki interrupted, as she moved the bacon into the plates. "Seriously, it's not like I'm infected with a deadly disease or something. Besides, I can move my arm as long as I don't put too much strength in it."

"I told you that I can-"

"Yeah, it's very convincing to hear that from someone who nearly fainted while he was talking." Kimihito slightly blushed in embarrassment. In his dim memories, he could remember his eyes close down slowly as he was telling Satsuki something while they were both laying down; himself on the floor and her on his bed.

"Nearly fainted? Master, were you indeed sick?" The centaur asked, her eyes filled with worry.

"No need to worry, Centorea. He just got tired as he told me a bedtime story." They didn't have to see her face to know that she was grinning as she said that.

"Bedtime story? And I thought you said you were 16. Aren't you too old for bedtime stories?"

"Rachnera, you can _never_ get too old for two things: Christmas presents and bedtime stories." Satsuki seemed rather proud to say that. "There, breakfast is finished. Can someone go fetch Suu and Papi while someone else helps me move all these dishes? These are quite a handful."

Things went swiftly from then. It turned out that Papi and Suu were coming down the stairs when Miia went to fetch them, and the remaining members helped Satsuki move the plates to the kitchen table. Although there was an astounding amount of plates, the extra hands made it possible to move them all within a minute. And Lala just appeared out of nowhere.

With everyone present, the members of the household sat down.

"Um, so," Satsuki spoke out sheepishly, "it's been quite a while since I've actually cooked-"

"And you didn't actually have to cook-"

"Oh, cut it out Kimi. We're done with that conversation. Anyway, it's been a while since I've been in the kitchen, but I did give it my best. Although I don't think I can actually call this cooking, when all I had to do was to sizzle the ingredients. Anyhow, I hope it's edible. Everyone, please enjoy!"

After a short but loud 'Ittadakimatsu', the girls took a proper look at the food served before them. Satsuki somehow figured all of their diets-eggs for Miia, extra bacon for Papi, salad for Centorea, and so on.

"Satsuki, you do have a lot of background information, don't you?" Miia asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"I've got to say, I'm impressed," said Rachnera, as she eyed her sausages before she took a bite.

Everyone started to eat their food. Papi was stuffing the bacon in her plate into her mouth, and Suu was doing pretty much the same, except that in Suu's case, everyone else could see the pieces of bacon moving in her body as it slowly got digested and disappeared. The others were showing table manners, especially Meroune and Centorea.

"Satsuki, these taste great!" exclaimed Meroune, as she clapped her webbed hands.

"Indeed, my lady, your cooking skills are exquisite!"

"Cooking skills? These things on the table require none, and you know that. You don't really call sizzling bacon and boiling eggs cooking. But thanks for the compliment anyway." She started to eat the food on her own plate, a huge amount of sausages and bacon and boiled eggs.

Everyone was enjoying their food, except for Kimihito. He was still feeling uncomfortable for making his sister cook, when she was still bandaged all over her body. He regretted for not waking up properly, and promised to himself that he would never ignore an alarm ever again. Each bite he took just made him feel more guilty. What he didn't know was that Satsuki intentionally turned off the alarm for today as she left his room after she woke up.

No one talked for a while. Everyone in the house was enthusiastic eaters, and was not exactly the kind to have a nice conversation during a meal, unless it was necessary. Everyone was almost through with their meals when they heard the doorbell ring.

 _Ding-Dong_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Maybe I should have expected," grumbled Kimihito as he opened the door to the visitors, who were everything but ashamed or apologetic to just show up on a Sunday morning without any notice in advance.

"Come on now, Darling-kun, it's about time you got used to it." Smith replied with a smirk and a small wink through her glasses. She wasn't in her government-agent-style black suit; instead, she was in more casual clothes. She had put on a light blue, long-sleeved shirt that fit loosely and a pair of long black jeans. On her wrist was a small, white watch with a simple design. Her hair was just as usual.

And of course, behind her, there was her team, the MON crew.

Smith did have a point. It was about time that he got used to it. Take a look at the MON crew. They were all in very casual clothing (except for Doppel, that always walked around naked), and their facial expressions made it clear that coming to this house was nothing special. Not to mention that they didn't look even a bit uncomfortable in coming inside once the door was open. Well, except for the fact that Tio had to slightly cringe in order to enter without breaking the wall. Even Manako wasn't stuttering or apologizing for suddenly appearing in front of their door. That explains a lot.

"Hey there, Loverboy," Zombina raised her hand with a grin. "Mind if we come in?"

"It's not like you really care about it," mumbled Kimihito. Zombina obviously heard it, since her grin stretched wider as she walked with light footsteps.

"Hi Snookums~" Tionishia, as always, was dripping with kindness and warmth. Kimihito was always quite curious about how she was doing that. With her height, it would be more natural for the first impressions to be 'tall, big' rather than 'lovey-dovey, kind'. Of course, he never dared to ask, especially when he knew that she was, in her words, 'self-conscious of her height'.

"Hello, Bae," said the last one to enter. Doppel, her eyes looking dull and uninterested, but at the same time smirking, was just as usual: naked, and not ashamed of it. There was a time when Kimihito gave her clothes, asking her to wear them as a thank-you for helping out with her pranks. But that time was long gone. At least, it was long gone for Doppel. After two or three days, she could no longer bear with the clothes, and just walked around naked again.

Kimihito sighed as he watched the 5 ladies walk into the house very naturally as they followed the scent of food into the kitchen. The last time any of them came was 5 days ago. He thought that maybe it was a sign that they wouldn't come as frequently as they did, like every other day. He had been wrong, it seems. He followed them, as he heard the exchange students and the visitors greet each other. None of them were surprised to see them.

"Say Darling-kun, do you have some extra food? We haven't had any breakfast, and we could use some food!" Smith was demanding as usual, already finding a seat for herself. Kimihito sighed again as he opened his mouth to say something, when he realized that Smith's question lightened up a bulb in his head.

"Hey, where's Satsuki?" he asked the girls around the table. He had totally forgotten that Smith and the MON crew didn't know his little sister, maybe even her existence.

"Satsuki?" Smith twitched her eyebrows.

"Over here," said a voice that came from the direction of the refrigerator. Everyone turned to see her getting herself a bottle of orange juice. "Just getting myself something to drink."

"Who are you?" asked Zombina, her eyes curious. "Did Loverboy get himself another girl?" She chuckled at her own joke.

"Oh, Snookums, it isn't good to flirt around with too many girls, you know? And I thought 7 would be enough!" The ogre seemed rather excited than disappointed, though.

"Got yourself into more trouble, Bae? Who is it this time?"

"Ugh, cut it out, all of you. Why does it always lead to a conclusion like that?" Kimihito sighed. He lost count of how many times he sighed after the visitors came in the house. Kimihito wasn't the only one sighing, though.

"And exactly how was your life while I was gone, bro, that makes everyone jump to that conclusion?" Satsuki walked up closer to the visitors. To their surprise, she didn't seem to be on guard to face three more liminals, not to mention that they all could be quite intimidating in their own ways at first sight.

"Not to mention that I'm very surprised to see you cornered by extraspecies in every direction."

"Not funny, Satsuki," Kimihito groaned. Satsuki lightly laughed as she faced the visitors properly.

"Since my brother seems to be in no mental state to introduce me himself, I guess I should." She eyed her brother before she continued. "The name's Satsuki Kurusu. And no, I'm not his new potential marriage candidate, girlfriend, or even a female friend whatsoever. I'm just his little sister that he just can't beat on anything."

Kimihito sighed. He always knew that the last sentence was true, but listening her say that felt very humiliating.

"Since when did Loverboy have a younger sister? Smith, you knew?" Zombina turned to face the leader of the squad, who nodded in approval.

"I found a record of a sister while I was looking through his legal documents. But if I'm right," her eyes glanced suspiciously at the young girl. "I'm pretty sure you disappeared two years ago. Why suddenly appear now?"

Her question was not answered, for Tionishia rushed to the girl in a sudden yet powerful embrace before Smith could even finish the sentence.

"You're adorable!" she squealed, as she lifted her from the ground, swaying her left and right. "So small and cute!"

"Umm…" It was Manako that managed to say something. "Tio, I think you should let her down… I think you might end up breaking her ribs or something…" Her voice faded out, almost making it inaudible by the end. But she was able to do her job. Tio, although reluctantly, placed her back on the floor.

"Miss Tio!" said an angry, loud voice. "How could thee do such a violent act? Her lady was badly injured, and has bandages covering up her body!"

"Huh?" The ogre, puzzled, quickly took a closer look at the girl who she just held like a doll. Her clothes weren't transparent, so she couldn't see the biggest cut, but she could still see the bandages covering her arm and some other parts of the skin that was revealed. She gasped, trying to apologize, and would have, if she wasn't stopped.

"No need to apologize," said Satsuki as she grinned. "You didn't mean it, anyway. And I don't think it made the injuries any worse. My body was in horrible condition to start off with."

"But still! I'm sorry, Cutiepie! I didn't know!" Tionishia bowed her waist, trying to show how sorry she was. What she wasn't conscious of was that because of her height, she would have head-butted Satsuki quite strongly if she wasn't nimble enough to move in time.

"It's okay, it's okay…" 'I guess' she spoke the last two words only to herself. "I'm totally fine, so there's no need to fret!" Satsuki thought to herself that she should check on her cuts after the visitors left; she wasn't too sure if they were fine as she said.

"Man, sorry about that! Tio here just doesn't know how to control her strength every once in a while. I'm pretty sure she didn't have any bad intentions. Anyway, the name's Zombina, and you're facing the liveliest zombie on Earth!" She stretched her arm and offered her a hand, which Satsuki gladly shook.

"You're not too surprised by me, huh, kid?"

"I don't think I have the right to. Do you think I look any better than you right now?" Satsuki said, grinning widely. She did have a point. Although only parts of her skin were revealed, a lot of it was covered up in bandages. There were Band-Aids every here and there on her face, too.

"Gosh, I like ya kid!" Zombina had obviously made herself a friend.

"Um… Hello, miss Satsuki… My name is… Manako…" The monoeye was stuttering as usual, her eye facing the ground instead of looking at Satsuki in the eye. Her face was turning red with embarrassment.

Satsuki rolled her eyes. These people and their habit of calling her 'miss what' and 'my lady' was not making her feel at home.

"Nice to meet you, Manako." Satsuki said with a smile, looking at her in the eye. It didn't take her more than a moment to figure out that she was a very shy person. She decided not to push that further. Besides, according to what she heard from her brother, her monoeye quality was her complex, and she didn't want to hurt her, even by accident.

"And I'm Tio! Nice to meet you, Cutiepie!" Tio, back in her usual, cheerful mood, got Satsuki in another embrace, only this time it was much weaker.

"Cutiepie, huh," murmured a voice from the table.

Now that it was obviously Doppel's turn to introduce herself, she stepped up towards the girl. Not a lot of people were able to capture it, but her eyes blinked with suspicion for a slight second before she changed her face into her usual smirk.

"Hey there, kiddo. Call me Doppel." To make it convenient for Satsuki to shake her hand, she changed her form into a taller, more mature looking tan woman. She offered her hand, which Satsuki shook, slightly surprised by the sudden form shift.

"I've never actually seen a shape-shifter before. That was cool!" The shape-shifter smirked as she changed her form back into her usual one.

The only person left now was Smith. She eyed Satsuki with a wary eye, as if she was trying to find a fault in her. She twitched her eyebrows once before she actually opened her mouth.

"Will you answer my previous question now?"

Satsuki looked back at her straight in the eyes. She wasn't intimidated. She went through too much to be scared by just a tall, young lady that was eyeing her suspiciously. "Is it really wrong for someone to come back to their own house?"

The air suddenly got tense, and everyone in the kitchen could feel it. Kimihito obviously could, and tried to stop the two, before he met Rachnera's eyes that were obviously telling him that he should let them talk for a bit.

"That's not what I meant. What I've been asking was why you leaved, and why you appeared just now, out of all times. I came to this house 5 days ago, and since I didn't see you then, I'll have to guess that you came here quite recently. Besides," she pointed at her bandages. "The state that you're in doesn't help lift my suspicion."

Kimihito and the rest of the girls were looking at each other with anxiety in their eyes. It was as if the two were having a cold war. The young man looked like he wanted to stop the talk any second.

Satsuki's eyes were bold. "I understand that you're a government agent and all, Ms. Smith," the agent twitched her eyebrows again when she heard the girl mention her name before she even introduced herself. "But that doesn't mean that you have any business regarding this issue. I'm pretty sure this issue isn't in your hands. You're a coordinator for the Extraspecies Exchange Program, a leader of the MON team."

"How do you know that?" The agent's eyes were darker than ever. "How do you know all this?"

"You didn't expect my brother to tell me nothing about the government agent that constantly comes to ask for coffee and free meals, did you?" Satsuki slightly smirked.

Kimihito knew as soon as he saw that smirk that Satsuki won over Smith on their small, non-violent battle. He shook his head. His sister was incredible.

And indeed, he was right.

Smith scowled, but she had nothing more that she could say about that. After clearing her throat and loosening the tension in her eyes, she spoke. "I guess I'll have to say you're right about that."

She paused with her face facing the floor for a few seconds. When she held her face, she had a much friendlier face. "Although I see no need to introduce myself, I guess I will have to. My name is Kuroko Smith, but call me Ms. Smith, since that's what everyone calls me around. Sorry for being hostile for a moment. My job makes me edgy on a lot of things, and I guess it just all came out on you. Would you accept my apology?" She stretched out her arm, obviously asking for a handshake. She seemed much more at ease, and she was actually lightly smiling by now. The MON squad wasn't fooled by that, though, and nor were the rest. They knew better than to believe Smith's outer facial expressions to be a reflection of her true emotions.

Satsuki took her hand and shook it, although quite slowly and not as enthusiastically as when she shook hands with Zombina. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't look angry either. Her face was emotionless, and it was just impossible to read. "Those kinds of things can happen. Apology accepted." She looked into the agent's eyes, and the agent looked at hers for quite a while. Silence filled the kitchen until the latter broke the silence.

"By a chance, have I met you before? I don't know how to explain, but you seem… familiar." Smith didn't like the last word she came up with. It was not enough to explain the feeling she was getting from the young girl. She didn't remember seeing someone that resembled her, but looking at those eyes made her feel like she has seen them before. She had this feeling that she was supposed to know her quite well, but wasn't remembering well enough.

"I don't think you've seen Satsuki Kurusu before." Satsuki paused before she continued. "If you did, then you would have recognized who I was. I don't think I'm the forgettable type." Her grip tightened.

It took a few more seconds for Smith to accept that and let go of her hand. As soon as that happened, Satsuki headed towards the kitchen.

"I started making breakfast today, so I'll be the one to finish it. No interrupting, bro."

With that last sentence, she opened the fridge to get some more eggs and sausages and bacon. Kimihito didn't stop her. It wasn't really because he thought that she should finish up cooking breakfast; he was thinking that he should cook this time. The only reason why he wasn't stopping her was because he thought it would be better if Satsuki and Smith weren't facing each other for the time being.

The MON squad looked at each other uneasily. This was not what they were expecting when they were coming to this house. Smith was lost in thought. She was trying to figure out when she saw the young girl. The confusion in the atmosphere left Doppel's stern look towards the young girl unrecognized.


	11. Chapter 11

Satsuki was laying on her newly set up bed, relaxing her muscles after all the work she had to do. Even though she was much stronger than the usual girls of her age, moving big, heavy boxes around the house and organizing a roomful of stuff into their right places for nearly 4 hours isn't anything easy. She doesn't enjoy just laying or sitting down, doing nothing, but she had to call this an exception. She was exhausted.

She slowly closed her eyes. Two sentences kept on ringing inside her mind.

 _'Promise me just this one thing, Satsuki. Don't ever disappear like that without a word.'_

She placed her hand on her forehead, and gave out a quick sigh. Totally out of her mind due to exhaustion, she promised that she wouldn't. But now, thinking of it again, she wasn't so sure if she was able to keep that promise.

And she really didn't want to be a promise breaker to her brother.

She was regretting saying that, when she heard a sound.

Knock, knock.

"Who is it?"

"It's me," said a naturally seductive, mature, female voice. Satsuki didn't have to open the door to figure out who it was.

"Rachnera. Come in." Satsuki raised her body so that she was now sitting on the bed rather than lying down on it. She had a feeling that she had to prepare for a long talk.

The Arachne opened the door and walked into the room carefully and cautiously. Her eyes were looking around at the room as she entered. She was in a white tank top that came all the way down to her waist. If Satsuki had known her better, she would have noticed that the clothing was much more conservative than her usual ones.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Rachnera?"

The arachne's red eyes fixed on Satsuki. "Not really. I came here to… talk."

Satsuki twitched her eyebrows. She had no idea what she was up to. She wasn't expecting her to come in her room, out of everyone in the house.

"About what?"

Satsuki couldn't hear an answer. Instead, she could feel something white and rope-like wrapping her up, too fast for her to even respond. The substance tied her two wrists together, then tied her arms and her torso together. It all happened swiftly, and the power of those strings, that Satsuki could know guess as spider webs, were too strong for her to resist in any way. Satsuki could do nothing but gasp.

"Rachnera, what are you…"

Before she could finish her sentence, she could feel herself getting lifted. She tried to move, but it was no use. She just couldn't find a way to free her hands or get herself back down to the ground. A second later, and she was facing the Arachne, with their eyes only being a few centimeters apart. Rachnera's eyes were burning red, and were filled with something that seemed like suspicion. Satsuki wasn't too sure what really was in those eyes. Satsuki stared at her boldly. She was doing her best not to tremble. She clenched her fists hardly.

"May I _please_ ask you what you're doing with me, Rachnera?"

The Arachne looked in her eyes with all six eyes, as if she was trying to find something in it. After looking at her for a few seconds, her eyes narrowed.

"That's strange," she murmured. It was evident that the Arachne was finding something unsatisfying.

Satsuki then felt another swarm of thread coil around her knees, gluing her legs together. Satsuki looked back even boldly. She had no idea of what was going on, but her instincts weren't allowing her to openly freak out. She was half forced by her instincts into keeping a straight face.

"Is this your definition of talking, Rachnera?"

The Arachne made a face, then gently cupped the young girl's jaws with her hands. Her eyes were gleaming with some sort of emotion that the young girl couldn't read out. Satsuki could feel the cool, black exoskeleton brushing around her face, and could feel a shiver work up her spine. But it was far from the feeling of sexual pleasure. Even if it wasn't Satsuki, and was rather a normal guy, he would be shuddering in fear and nothing else. Although it was a smooth brush rather than a harsh touch, Rachnera somehow made it more terrifying than the latter.

Somewhere in her mind, a memory started to appear: a painful memory that she didn't want to see or feel ever again. No longer able to face the Arachne with a straight face, and trying to get that memory off her mind, Satsuki closed her eyes and slightly turned her head away. She really didn't want that memory to appear in her head. This time, she couldn't stop herself from slightly trembling. Yes, she was afraid. Very afraid.

"Would… would you please… stop?" Despite her best efforts, her voice was shaking.

The Arachne smirked. Satsuki could soon feel the thread around her loosening up, and in the next second totally snapped. Her body fell to the ground with a thump. It was then that she knew that the situation a bit ago was over, and was able to open her eyes. She looked, no, leered at the Arachne, that was now back on the floor as well.

"What was **that** for?" Her face was red hot with anger, and she was barely holding back a yell. Why did she have to do that? Does she even understand what she just made her go through? Rachnera slightly smiled at the sight. In fact, she was actually slightly humming.

"Well, I said that I came for a talk, didn't I? I can't have a nice talk with someone that's lying, can I? So I'd figured that I would make your reactions a bit honest before we went on with our talk. I have a lot to ask you, but you seemed to be good at keeping a mask."

Satsuki reached a conclusion that Rachnera had no idea whatsoever about what Satsuki actually went to. The fear that the Arachne intended was only just a part of it. But Satsuki didn't want to explain what it all was. While she was processing this, Rachnera spoke out again.

"Satsuki Kurusu. Who are you?"

Satsuki looked back at the Arachne.

"I don't get what you're asking."

"Then I'll start off with this question, although I'm pretty sure Honey won't be too happy to know that I'm asking this to you. How did you get that cut on your chest?"

The Arachne could see the young girl's eyes go blank after immediately hearing to that question.

One of her painful memories started to play in her head. Her expressions didn't actually show any apparent fear or despair. It was as if every emotion has just slipped out of her. She didn't move even the slightest bit, and very slight sounds of breathing were the only proof of her being alive.

Rachnera was starting to regret what she did. She wasn't expecting something like this. She was starting to get afraid of what she did to this girl; though her methods weren't exactly the softest, she had no intention of hurting her, mentally or physically. But she had a feeling that her actions and words were the trigger to this reaction.

A few moments later, the young girl opened her eyes. Rachnera gasped. Her eyes were red, just like the time she was staring at her at the dinner table. Not the bright red of her own eyes, but more like a murky, dirty red, quite tainted with black.

The girl slightly opened her mouth. Although she barely moved her mouth as she spoke, it was as if she was the oracle of the Greek myths; every syllable was full of pressure.

 **"You asked for it."**

Suddenly, everything blacked-out for the Arachne.

* * *

When Rachnera opened her eyes again, she was no longer in Satsuki's room. Instead, she was in a place that seemed to be a cottage. She could see cylindrical, large chunks of wood glued together to form each wall. As she tried to get herself up, she found out that she couldn't. Her body just didn't move as her will. As she looked down at her body, she was horrified. This wasn't her body. It was a body of a human. She wanted to deny reality when she realized that she knew the owner of this body. Yes, she was in the body of Satsuki Kurusu.

She looked around closely to get a grasp of the situation she was in. There wasn't much furniture around her. There was only a giant pot that was giving out boiling sounds. It seemed like it was cooking something inside. Not being able to spot anything else, she looked back at the body that somehow she was in. It was much less scrawnier than the Satsuki Kurusu that she knew. This body at least had a decent amount of fat and muscles around her, although she still looked like she needs a nice meal. And she noticed that she was laid down on the floor.

That was when she could hear sounds. There was a sound of a door opening, and the sounds of people talking. The sound was too distant for her to understand anything, but it was definitely the sound of talking. The sound gradually got louder and louder. She lost count of exactly how many people were involved in the conversation. There were at least 10 people in it, and she could hear both male and female voices.

She then felt the body moving, then sitting up. She could feel the body moving around, trying to figure out what kind of situation she was in. Rachnera realized that she wasn't actually in this body as its soul and intellect. The body was moving on its own, and she was seeing things in its perspective. Noticing the sound, she could feel the body tensing, trying to find out what they were talking about. The sound was now close enough to be audible. Rachnera found herself concentrating on the sound, trying to make out what they were saying.

"-you sure you found a human?" asked a voice. It was a voice of an adult male.

"Yes, I am very sure. I told you, it's totally helpless. It doesn't even have a knife with it!" A voice of a woman, probably in her twenties or thirties, Rachnera thought. She could hear some chuckling and laughing.

"But what's the point in it being helpless? Didn't you say that it was a young girl?" snickered a male voice, different from the one she heard previously. "She won't even be worth a bite! What can we eat out of a small little girl?"

"It's better than nothing," snapped another voice. "If you don't want it, then you can just go back to your miserable home, and give each of us more to eat."

Rachnera was shocked. These people, or whatever they were, were actually planning on literally eating her. Her head started to spin with sudden nausea; it felt gross just to imagine tearing this young girl into pieces and devouring on them. It seemed like the body noticed this as well. She could feel the body get and start running. Just when the body succeeded in opening the door, she gasped in horror. She could feel the body halting in shock, the legs glued to the ground, trembling.

Tall figures were standing in her way, each holding a weapon of some sort, like an axe or a thick stick. If someone took only a quick glance, they would think that they were looking at people from the ancient civilizations. Their forms were irregular, and definitely not human. Or to be exact, not fully human. One of them had the features of a cow, while another one had a long tail, and so on. They were a group of extraspecies, hungry and longing for meat, regardless of the kind.

"Well, look what we have here," said a female voice. "It seems like our dinner is planning on making an escape." She giggled with a high pitched, screeching voice, that was soon joined with laughter of all pitches.

The owner of the high pitched voice stepped out to the front of the group. Rachnera could now slowly get a grasp on how she got into this situation, and she was starting to feel sick because she could finally start to understand what was really going on. She had asked Satsuki how she got that cut.

The owner of the high pitched voice was an Arachne.


	12. Chapter 12

The Arachne giggled as if she was mad. Although there were other laughing sounds, hers was definitely the most outstanding in that aspect. Although it wasn't the loudest, it was somehow the most prominent. It pierced the air as if it was a poison arrow that was just shot from a crossbow, and seemed to be even deadlier.

The body was totally halted in fear of the voice. Rachnera could feel shivers going down its spine and goosebumps starting to appear in its arms and legs. The ear-piercing high notes of the giggle seemed to be tearing the girl in pieces already.

She herself was finding it hard to maintain conscious. It was as if the girl's fear was slipping into her own systems. She could feel great fear that didn't seem to be solely hers, although she had no idea how this could even happen. Her head spun, in a speed that she has never experienced before. She never wanted to collapse more than now.

"Oh my," spoke out the Arachne, after stopping her chaotic giggling. "You okay there, little girl?" Her comment was soon joined with the jeers and laughter of the other monsters. Yes, monsters. That was the only word that came out in Rachnera's mind. There was no doubt. These creatures were just plain monsters. Not the word 'monster' humans used to distinguish extraspecies from themselves. No, they were **the** monsters, the ones that deserved damnation.

"Why, are you too terrified by how I look?" she could hear the monster continue. "My, my… You really shouldn't judge by appearances. Didn't your mommy teach you that when you were young?" Rachnera clenched her teeth. She herself wanted to speak, or rather, shout out every word in her mind instead of the poor little girl that seemed to have lost grasp of herself. But she couldn't. The body didn't move by her will. It was frozen in its spot. Rachnera could feel the fear intensifying every second. It made her clatter her teeth.

"But no worries, little girl. It's not like we weren't going to eat you even if you didn't! After all, every monster knows that human flesh, especially the young ones, can be really tender." The monster smacked its lips. "Don't you worry too much, you'll die being useful to at least someone!"

As soon as the monster finished that sentence, Rachnera could feel thin, but powerful silk strands constricting around the body. The feeling of the strings constricting the body parts, blocking regular blood circulation and turning the skin red was so vivid; it was as if someone was doing the act to her and not another body that she somehow got trapped in. It tied up the arms and the legs, preventing it from properly moving. She could feel the body trying to break out of it, flailing and thrusting her body in all directions, but it was already too late; it didn't do any good. How she could feel this as if it were her actions, despite that this body has only two legs and no spider abdomen was a mystery that she couldn't linger her mind on for long before the pain distracted her.

The strings were wrapped up as if it were the strings used on wood to create a raft. It constricted with such power that it was as if it was piercing through the skin and cutting off the bones. She could feel the body howl in pain, and she found herself doing the same thing too. It was unbearable. The strings even wrapped around her eyes, blinding her sight as well.

Somehow, the body managed to move its lips.

"Why… Why are you doing this to me?" The voice was hoarse and stricken with pain and fear. If it wasn't for the dramatic situation she was in, Rachnera would have closed her eyes and turned away. It hurt to just listen.

Another howl of laughter came from the crowd, and this time a voice of a male answered.

"Why? You're asking why, little human?" He was nearly choking. "Why, isn't it definite for us to eat you inferior humans? Don't tell me that you humans actually believed that all of us agreed to that _ridiculous_ bill some of our governments signed with you! I mean, why would we want to maintain peace with you miserable beings?" Rachnera could feel something sharp going through her stomach area. It took a moment for her to feel the sharp pain and liquid oozing out.

Blood.

"So weak, so fragile, so delicate… And they think that they should be considered equal with us?" She could hear more jeering and the malicious giggling.

She couldn't think about anything except for the pain she was feeling. Being an Arachne, her body was never delicate. She seldom had to go through even the most minor injuries. The experience of being cut like this was nothing familiar. It was alien and creepy, and she didn't want to feel it for another second.

"Now, now, cut it out. We have to go on with the cooking! Let's carry her outside, where we can properly roast her up!"

And that was the last thing she heard before she felt something hard smashing into her head, making her lose consciousness once more.

* * *

When she woke up again, she still couldn't see anything except for complete darkness. But she could still feel the strings constricting her. And she could also feel that she was being hanged on something. Her wrists and ankles were tied to something that felt like a tree trunk, and that seemed to be preventing her from falling. She realized that the body was positioned like a chicken when it is getting burned on a fire. Those monsters weren't joking when they were talking about 'properly roasting'.

Yes, they were about to grill the body on fire.

She heard a voice. "You sure she's unconscious? Shouldn't we check out by poking her with a needle or something?" Rachnera felt a wave of anxiety rush on her. She didn't want to go through that, after experiencing how it felt to be cut.

"Nah. She might actually wake up because of that. And we don't want to hear our meal yelling at us, do we?"

"Guess you're right." She sighed in relief. At least she didn't have to experience that.

Despite the panic she was in, she started to think. What would happen from now? If she was right, then she was experiencing an event in Satsuki's memory. This means, that no matter what happens, she would somehow make it through without getting eaten by these monsters. And whatever she does won't change that outcome, or any of this body's actions.

And judging by the fact that she was thinking and conscious, at least within this weird situation that she can't really explain, Satsuki must have been conscious at this timing when this event has actually happened in reality. In other words, she must be thinking of a way to get out of this. Or at least, that was what Rachnera was hoping.

But she couldn't feel any thoughts that weren't her own crossing her head. Either Satsuki isn't thinking of anything, too caught up in terror, or the thought-sharing wasn't 100% perfect.

She didn't have much time to ponder which was right when she felt another voice.

"What took you so long?" It sounded as if the speaker was hissing rather than talking.

"No business! Anyways, me brought the fire, so start the party!" It was another female voice. She didn't sound too intelligent.

"Are you sure you knocked her out?" asked a male voice. "You sure she isn't going to start squealing or something?"

"Yup, didn't move a single inch."

"That's good. Gosh, I hate listening to little brats screaming their lungs out." Rachnera could hear someone moving. "Now, let's start our little preparing process. Hasty, Lida, start." Rachnera could feel the body's skin crawling. Although she herself had no idea what these monsters were talking about, it seemed like Satsuki knew something.

"Got it!" yelled out two voices in unison. Rachnera could feel something approaching. She could hear a stomping sound and the sound of grass being swept getting louder and louder.

She could feel a heart beating as if it was going crazy. She had no idea whether it was hers or the young girl's. It didn't matter. She was too horrified to be thinking of such a minor thing. She felt as if she was sweating, and her body was trembling.

' _I'm doomed_ ,' roared through her brain. And she couldn't deny it. She could feel it coming, although she had no idea what exactly was about to happen.

 _Slash_.

A giant slashing sound pierced into her auditory senses, and she could feel a cold shudder running through her veins. It was slightly different to the sound she heard previously, before she went unconscious, but she could still know what that meant.

She screamed to the top of her lungs, which turned out to be in vain. A great pain started to ache around her right shoulder. The cut was definitely deeper than the one in her stomach. It felt as if someone pierced in thought of actually cutting off part of the skin.

Before she could get over the pain, she could feel another wave of pain wash around her arms. She could feel same pain in her legs. The slashed areas burned as if someone torched them with fire, and she could feel the limbs getting wet with blood. She felt tears rushing down her cheeks because of the pain. She thought that this was much worse than death.

This was complete torture.

"Will that do?" Rachnera could somehow process the sound as her mind was totally crazy with the pain. It was the hissing voice.

"You idiots! Do? You overdid it! I asked you to make cuts in the body so that it would roast better, not soak the whole body with blood!" It was a deep voice. It seemed like the owner of this voice was something like the leader of the group.

"Charlotte would not be happy to see this," he mumbled. Or maybe he wasn't the leader after all. Rachnera had a feeling that she knew who the leader, the one named Charlotte, was.

"No! Charlotte angry!" squealed the unintelligent voice. "What we do?"

The leader-like voice gave out a sigh. "We have no choice. We'll have to go wash her with water and rub out the blood before Charlotte gets here. Loosen up the strings. Let's take her to the stream."

Soon she could feel the strings around her wrists and ankles loosening up, until they were totally free, making her go through the bare shock of collapsing to the ground. The slashed areas still felt like they were on fire. She howled out in pain as she realized that she collapsed on one of the slashed areas on the legs. But of course, it seemed like no one except for herself was recognizing that.

She was starting to feel respect for the girl. Although she was feeling all this pain and wasn't fainting, she wasn't making a sound. Rachnera realized that she must have a plan or something going on in her little brain. She had no idea how she was doing that. The pain itself was enough to process in one brain, and even herself, Rachnera Arachnera, found it impossible to endure it without a few screams.

She could then feel something that seemed like a hand, getting under her back and knees, as if it was about to lift the body in a bridal style. She winced as it touched one of the cuts on her arms in the process.

But it seemed like Satsuki had been waiting for this moment.

The moment the body was lifted, Rachnera could feel the body, or rather, herself, jump into action. Ignoring the pain, it ran with all it had. She could hear sounds of yelling and pursuit, but that didn't stop the body in any way. In fact, it just made it run even faster.

The girl ran like the wind. Her speed was over the boundaries of being 'impressive'; it was just unbelievable. The sound of wind rang into her ears. She could feel the girl ignoring the pain and lifting her shoulders to struggle with the silk covering up her eyes until she finally succeeded in getting rid of it, regaining the sense of sight. For a moment, she could ignore all about the cuts and the blood. She felt free, as if she was running through the sky.

And she wanted that moment to last forever.

"My, my… It seems like our little dinner is being a bit disobedient, isn't it?"

Rachnera could feel a set of strings wrap around the legs, making the young girl tumble. She didn't need to see who the culprit was.

Within a second, she could feel the body being lifted up once more, this time by spider webs rather than arms. To her horror, she could see that the Arachne chose to lift her up in the position that she posed Satsuki a while ago. Satsuki and the Arachne were facing each other, the former lifted up from the ground in order to match up with the latter's superior height; the distance between the two faces was only about a few centimeters.

And before the body could even blink, there came the pain that she was expecting to come, but never wished for.

It was nothing she had felt before. It didn't feel like a cut, it felt like her chest was being cut off. It was as if every nerve, every cell in the area was breaking itself apart. Rachnera couldn't even scream this time. She just couldn't get the power to give out a big cry. Instead, she could feel a hot liquid leaving a mark as it traveled down her cheek. She tried to stop it, but the effort was useless. The more she tried, the larger the streams became.

She could feel blood spreading through her shirt, totally soaking it up in blood. At first, it started out as a slim line with the shape of the cut. But every passing second was making the stain grow. A few seconds that felt like forever was enough to dye the whole shirt into red. A dirty, murky red.

Her senses were growing faint. She could hear the other monsters gathering around her. She could feel some more cuts piercing her skin. But now all of that was growing dim. She could feel her eyes closing and her body collapsing.

'-chnee. Rachnee, are you okay?'

She could hear a voice ringing in her ears, as if it was an imaginary voice rather than a real one. She knew that voice. Although she thought that it was actually imaginary, she was never happier to hear it; she wondered if she would ever get the chance to tell that to the owner of the voice. Will he forgive her for doing what he asked not to?

'Rachnee, hang in there! It's not real!'

Not real? How could it be not real? Rachnera thought, as she could feel her body falling to the ground. Everything was moving in slow motion: the monsters that were surrounding her, the change of scenery as her body plummeted to the ground. No, it was real. It has to be. Unless it would be impossible to explain all that has happened, and how horrible it was.

When her eyes finally closed, and her back crashed into the ground, the texture of the ground felt strangely soft and tender, as if she was caught by a pair of arms instead of the hard surface of the ground.

* * *

I wasn't planning on writing an A/N on any of my chapters, but I guess it's about time to write something.

The Kurusus has now over 5,300 views. I honestly wasn't expecting this much attention. When I first started writing this, i was just wanting to write down a story that was going on in my brain. I still have no idea how I got the guts to start writing this. This is my first fic after all. I'm still quite nervous. I just hope I didn't mess up.

Although I'm not responding to your reviews, I am reading them. Thank you, everyone.

I don't think this story is going to end any time soon. If everything goes on as I planned, I think this story will get really, really long. I'm not too sure how I'm going to write such a long thing without making it boring, but at least that's my plan.

At some point, I think I'll have to go through this whole story and kinda organize it into proper sections. Right now, I'm just posting up whatever I've finished writing and calling it a chapter. I guess that I'll have to combine some chapters and give each chapter a name sometime in the future. But taking a look at how the story is making its progress, I don't think that'll be anytime soon. Especially considering how hectic my schedule is becoming.

Anyway, thank you for enjoying 'The Kurusus'. If there are things you want to point out or tell me, feel free to leave a review.


	13. Chapter 13

When Satsuki opened her eyes, she could see that something terrible has been done. And she knew that she was the criminal. There was no other way she could explain the feeling in her eyes: the odd mixture of a sense of freedom and a sense of losing focus. She felt this before, and she knew what it meant.

And looking right in front of her, she could see Rachnera, totally unconscious and covered with sweat, and her torso being held by her brother. She could see his eyes looking directly at her. He was totally taken aback, his mouth hanging open, and wasn't saying anything.

Behind him, she could see the girls. Meroune was in her wheelchair as always, her webbed hands covering her mouth, and her big blue eyes even wider than she remembered. Miia was right behind her, and her red, pointy ears were slightly trembling. Papi and Suu were standing right next to each other. They seemed to have no idea about what just happened, but they seemed to have noticed that it wasn't the timing for them to ask someone about it. Centorea seemed to be trying very hard how to figure out how a young human girl was able to knock down Rachnera Arachnera.

And then there was Lala.

Satsuki was pretty sure that she wasn't there a moment ago, but when she turned around, sensing something staring at her, she was there, right in front of the room's window. 'Intimidating' was the only word that could describe Lala right now. The dullahan was giving out a powerful presence that no one in the room has ever experienced. It was different from the time when Lala tricked them into thinking that Kimihito had to die. Her presence seemed a bit more mythical rather than horror this time. It was as if she wasn't from this world, but from a world very far away. Her amber eyes, deeper than usual, and her scythe, both slightly glistened from the orange light of the sunset.

She opened her mouth. "Young girl," she spoke, slowly, and with weight, "it is time you explain."

She staggered a few steps. She wanted to run away from this situation, run away from what she just did, and run away from all that was about to happen. Anywhere would be better than here. But she knew that she couldn't. Most of the girls were capable of catching her before she could leave the room.

It was a situation that she could not avoid.

* * *

After some time, she found herself seated on the table, along with everyone else except for Rachnera. She took Kimihito's seat, which was the seat in the center, the seat of the owner of the house. She could see 7 sets of eyes staring at her, obviously wanting her to start. The problem was that she herself had no idea how she was supposed to start.

And she was surprised to hear Meroune save her from the moment, with probably one of the most unexpected lines.

"Dear Sir… Why did you lie to us?"

Everybody, Kimihito in particular, was surprised to hear someone address him at this moment. He looked at Meroune with a puzzled face.

"Huh? Me? Lie?"

The mermaid lifted her face to look at him straight in the eyes. The blue pupils were serious than ever, and Kimihito could see it start to water. She was just about to burst into tears.

"Mero, what… Why are you… Don't cry!"

Before Kimihito could do anything more than saying that, Meroune opened her lips again.

"Dear Sir…" The mermaid lowered her head again and slightly trembled. "If you already had a lover, then you should have just told us. You shouldn't have lied to all of us like that!" Although no one could see her face, it was evident in her voice that she was crying.

"What? Lover?" Kimihito was in absolute panic. He had no idea what she was talking about. He looked around and found out that the other exchange students were eying at him with hurt looks, despite that they probably had no idea what Meroune was saying. Satsuki was, in a way, relieved to find out that all of that interest had moved away from her, but at the same time was frowning, not being able to understand what the mermaid was telling either. She knew her brother pretty well; if he had a girlfriend, she would have noticed.

"Darling…"

"Master?"

"Boss?"

"…"

"What the?"

Kimihito was frantic. "Please, Mero, tell me what on Earth you're talking about! I don't have a lover, and all of you know that!"

The mermaid lifted her head to meet the man's eyes. Her eyes were red, and so was her nose.

"Miss Satsuki… She isn't your sister, right? She can't be. She… isn't human. Beloved, you have lied to all of us so that you can conceal your true relationship with her. She isn't your sister, she is your lover!"

Kimihito was totally dumbfounded. And so were the other housemates. Just a moment ago, they thought that he had betrayed them. And now, they were hearing Mero telling them that Satsuki was his hidden lover. Regardless of all of the circumstances, most of them weren't out of their minds enough to make a relationship between 'Satsuki' and 'lover'.

Of course, Satsuki was the one that got the strongest hit. For a moment, she was just wholeheartedly furious.

 _"What on freaking Earth are you talking about!"_ She slammed the table as she yelled.

The mermaid glared back at her. "You're not human, aren't you, Satsuki?"

"Maybe I'm not, but how the fuck does that lead to that conclusion? He's my brother, and I'm his sister! What's wrong with you mermaids and your tragedy obsessions?"

"Wait, not perfectly human?" Centorea was moving her eyes from Meroune and Satsuki in a very fast speed. "What does that mean? My lady, you are one hundred percent human!"

Lala cleared her throat, gathering attention, and at the same time stopping the two from yelling at each other.

"Centorea, what you have just said is unfortunately, not true. She isn't perfectly human. She's rather a half-and-half."

"What? Half-and-half?" Miia cried out. "She's half human, and then half what?"

Satsuki sighed, and calmed down a bit. It seemed like Meroune had just gave her the most dramatic and unexpected introduction to what she would have to say. She got a grasp of where she should start her story.

"Okay then everyone, listen. Before…" She glanced at Meroune. " **you** jump into the another repulsive conclusion."

Meroune now lost her confidence in her theory. The way Satsuki was reacting to her words made her think that she was indeed, wrong. It was a relief, but at the same time, it left her with questions to be answered.

She decided to hear her out first. She nodded back.

Before Satsuki could talk, Lala cut in.

"There are many mysteries in this world that most beings do not know of." Her tone was gothic and serious. "We dullahans have been watching over these mysteries for a very long period of time. We have watched the most unbelievable events unravel, heroes and villains, evil and…"

"Miss Lala," Meroune was impatient. "I think it would be better to just start getting to the main story."

Lala cleared her throat. "Kmm-hmm!"

Satsuki slightly shook her head. It would take forever to explain everything in this speed. And she wanted to get this task ended.

"Let me start out. Does everyone know what happens when a human and a liminal of different gender, should I say, breed?"

She could see some flushed faces.

She was feeling weird now. She thought that this would be taking place in a much sterner or even dangerous atmosphere, considering what just happened. Now she was facing preposterous responses, which seemed totally out of place. They shouldn't be going through this kind of conversation when a human girl suddenly knocked out a mature Arachne without using any physical force. She remembered the last time a similar thing happened. She looked again at what was happening now. They should be reacting like _them_. They should be shocked, they should be afraid, and they should be looking at her with loathing eyes. They should be cornering her by now, threatening to kill.

Instead, she was facing with this. The best guess that she could make was that most of the people in this room knew too little to be reacting properly. This was probably right, since they didn't seem to know what she was even after they saw what just happened. If they knew any better, they wouldn't be sitting calmly.

Or maybe most of them didn't arrive in the room in time to see what really happened. She recalled the moment she saw the girls standing in the room. Kimihito and Mero were the ones in the front, and the others were behind them, except for Lala. If the rest of them didn't see what really happened, and just saw the outcome… Well, that made a plausible theory. But it still didn't explain why they wouldn't be freaking out by seeing their fellow housemate just faint. Although Satsuki was confident that there wasn't any harm done, at least physically, not a lot of people would have been able to get to that conclusion at first sight.

Satsuki decided to just go on with her talking.

"Everyone in this table should know, especially," she pointed at Miia. "you, Miia. Tell me, what happens?"

Miia, her face still blushing, answered, "W-well… we find ourselves a communal husband and we…"

Satsuki sighed. This conversation was certainly not going on as she thought. She was starting to find it ridiculous. "Not that. I'm talking about what their offspring would be. Is it a human or a liminal?"

"Liminals, I guess. But I don't know exactly…. At least that's how it turns out to be between humans and lamias. I don't know about any other case."

"You're right. Their offspring is not human. They are always the species of the other. Don't ask me about the science behind that."

Meroune quietly added in, "It's because we liminals have dominant genes."

"Thanks for the information. Anyway, that's how it works. But as always, there are exceptions. Like me." She pointed at herself. She could see some puzzled looks, which made her sigh inside her mind. She knew that it was weird for her to expect, in a way want them to, suddenly turn hostile towards her, but she felt like something was terribly wrong.

"But is that even possible?" Kimihito interrupted. "I mean, if liminals have dominant genes, then wouldn't it be impossible for that to happen?"

Satsuki looked at her brother. He shouldn't be so calm, asking those kinds of questions at this point; he should be falling off the chair or something, she thought.

She started to wonder what kind of crazy events he went through during those 2 years. She just told him that she wasn't fully human, and her brother, who had been with her for such a long time, was taking the information well, a bit too well. Or maybe he didn't quite get it. Maybe next morning, he'll remember the talk he had now, and realize how mind-blowing this piece of information is. Maybe he'll just suddenly disappear or suddenly force her out of the house for tricking him throughout all those years.

"It is one of nature's mysteries." Lala stepped in the talk. "Somehow, nature prevented the extinction of the human race by endowing some of their members with even more dominant genes. Their existence was the only thing that kept the world in balance. If their existence was denied, mankind would not have been able to roam the world."

"What does that even mean?"

"What Miss Lala is saying, Miss Miia, is that if all humans were like that, then humans wouldn't have been able to preserve their species. Since liminals had dominant genes, and there are bound to be interactions between liminals and humans, the number of liminals would continue to increase, while the number of humans would continue to decrease."

Miia nodded. "I got that. How do you know all of this, Mero?"

Meroune shrugged. "Being a princess of the mermaid kingdom requires me to know many things, Miss Miia."

Satsuki cleared her throat. "Anyway, that's what I meant when I told you that I wasn't fully human. I'm one of those… exceptions."

"Which means…" Centorea looked at Kimihito, who was totally dumbfounded. "Master, are you also…?"

'Seriously, is that all you're curious about?' was the only thought that crossed Satsuki's mind.

"Huh? Me? I… I don't think so. Both of my parents are human."

"But then… Oh." Centorea seemed to have reached to a point. She stopped talking. It suddenly turned quiet.

"Huh? What is it?" Miia was panicking; it seemed like everyone else seemed to be getting to a conclusion that she had no idea of. She wanted to know what was going on.

"Miss Miia." The mermaid spoke with a low tone. "It means that Satsuki and Dear Sir are not siblings."

In a way, Satsuki could see how Meroune ended up with her crazy conclusion. She knew what she was since that incident at the room. She knew what she was, and she knew that, at the same time, Kimihito was perfectly human. She got to the conclusion that they weren't siblings, at least in blood. And then the mermaid-tragedy-obsession would have kicked in, leading her to very bizarre thoughts. Those tragic-obsessed mermaids surely know how to interpret things in the weirdest way, she thought.

"You're right. I'm not his sister in blood. We don't share the same parents." She paused for a bit before she went on. "I was adopted."

The room went silent. Satsuki went on.

"But you ended up with the wrong conclusion. Remember what Ms. Smith said earlier today, Mero. The legal records tell me that I am his sister, at least in law. Not a secret lover or anything."

Meroune nodded, now feeling terribly ashamed of herself. She couldn't believe what she just said. She thought that she got over her tragedy obsession already, but it seemed like it was still deep in her veins enough for tragic scenarios to appear in her head. She sighed.

"I'm sorry."

Satsuki nodded, accepting her apology. The mermaid's ridiculous theory was not the most serious problem. She knew that the story that would come after this would be the really hard one to tell. She might have been lucky enough in having to talk up to this point to these people who don't seem to actually get the full meaning of it, but she doubted that the status quo would be maintained once she continued on.

"But then, my lady," Centorea spoke out cautiously. "What was that… What was that just happened in the room?"

Satsuki could see the atmosphere of the room suddenly tensing. She could see scare in the eyes of the girls she was facing. While they were distracted by all of the craziness, Centorea's statement seemed to have brought the memories back.

Satsuki could sense the strange feeling in her eyes again. She tried hard to suppress it. She didn't want that incident to happen again. She clenched her fists underneath the table.

Lala grasped her scythe tighter. "You are now stepping in the territory of mysteries beyond mysteries…"

 _Ding Dong_

Talking about perfect timing, Satsuki thought to herself.

Kimihito sighed as he got up from his chair. He walked towards the door and opened the door.

"Hello, may I help you?"

On front of the front door was a man in a black suit. He seemed to be in his thirties or forties, and he was holding a black suitcase in his hands. In overall, Kimihito got the impression that he came here for business.

"By a chance, are you Mr. Kimihito Kurusu?"

"Yes, I am. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Kimihito was getting nervous. Too many things happened today, and he didn't want another big thing to happen. He just heard bomb-like news, and his mind wasn't functioning well enough to fully accept that. To be perfectly honest, he was trying his best not to think too seriously about it, since he had a feeling that he won't be able to take it in too well.

He wished that the man didn't do much, at least for today. He wished that he would just turn away, saying that he's mistaken him for someone else. He seriously wanted to retire for the day.

But he had a feeling that his wish would not come true. After all, he was the type that gets caught up in stuff. His life was never normal, and it never worked out as planned.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kurusu. I am your father's personal assistant. There is something that I must discuss with you. May I come in?"

Although the rest of the housemates, who were left in the kitchen, weren't able to hear the full conversation, they could still hear clearly what the owner of the house said in response to the man's last words.

" _Holy shit_."


	14. Chapter 14

Kimihito bit his lower lip. The pain of his teeth piercing through the skin of his lips didn't distract him even the slightest bit. He soon spoke in a very low, yet loud voice that he rarely used.

"Centorea, Miia, everyone, take Satsuki upstairs."

The girls that were left around the kitchen table were startled. Papi and Suu, who didn't have a clue about what was being talked about in the conversation that took place just a bit ago, now held their heads up, wondering what brought up the sudden change.

"Excuse me, Master? Why of a sudden would you…"

"Bro, what's going on?"

Kimihito turned around. He didn't seem like the Kimihito Kurusu everyone knew. His expression was hard and cold. His brown eyes were darker than ever, and he didn't look like he was going to accept a 'no'.

"There's no time to explain," he snapped, "Just take her upstairs, do whatever you can to keep her there, and don't let her get down here until I tell you to!" The volume of his voice increased until it ended up becoming a yell.

Although none of them had any idea what he was up to, the girls obeyed. Centorea and Miia took one arm each and rushed up the stairs, ignoring the adolescent's yelling and flailing about. Their grip only got tighter the more she tried to get out of their grasp. Papi and Suu followed them, their eyes big with curiosity. Lala and Meroune were the last ones to head up. As Lala lifted Meroune on her wheelchair, she met eyes with Kimihito. After a look of understanding was exchanged, the dullahan and mermaid were out of sight.

"Um… Was that really necessary?" The man in the suit asked nervously.

Kimihito turned back to face the man. There were still a few remnants of the yelling, like his slightly flushed cheeks, but overall, he now seemed rational and ready not only for just a conversation, but a conference as well.

"My father isn't exactly sending his love to me, or by a chance, is he?"

The man in the suit couldn't answer back.

"As I thought," he sighed. "I was a fool to think that even for a short second."

He moved away from the door to make way for the man to enter.

* * *

"Let go of me!"

Centorea tightened her grip around Satsuki's right arm. "I can't. You've heard Master, he gave me an order to keep you up here, and I must obey it."

"He told me to keep me up here, not to bind me or something. Let go. We're already in my room, and I'm not stupid enough to try to run out of this place when all 6 of you are standing guard. Besides, I have a feeling that my blood isn't circulating properly."

Finding reason in her words, the centaur hesitantly freed her grip. Miia followed her example and let go of the left arm. Where they tightened their grip, there were now two giant, red, hand-shaped marks. It seemed like Satsuki was right with her assumptions about the blood circulation.

Miia flexed her fingers. Her hands were feeling wet for quite a while. When she was grabbing on Satsuki's arm, she thought that it was because of sweat or something, but she was finding it strange that the feeling wasn't vanishing even after she let go. It was then that she spotted some red marks on her hands. She gasped as she looked back at the part of the arm she grabbed ever so tightly. The bandages around the area were red and wet, soaked with blood. The cuts that they were covering up seemed to have opened again due to the sudden pressure.

"I'm so sorry, Satsuki! I really didn't know that I was grabbing so hard!" Miia was in a flutter. "Really, I had no idea… Are you okay? I'm really sorry!"

Centorea, who wasn't acknowledging the harm she inflicted, looked at Satsuki and Miia, wondering why Miia was making such a fuss.

"What's the matt-"

When her eyes reached Satsuki's arms, she could soon spot the soaked bandages.

"Forgive me, my lady! Why, it was the most discourteous thing to…"

"Cut it out." The human girl spoke in a low tone. "It's nothing special. Happens all the time."

"But Satsu-"

"I said, stop it. It's okay. I got the hang of it."

Although her voice certainly didn't sound okay, her hands were already coping up with the bloody mess. She removed the bandages that were now just red, wet pieces of cloth. She eyed the cuts, and started to look around her room to find something to wipe out the blood. Miia and Centorea wanted to say something, to say that they're sorry once more, but the look in her eyes stopped them. The eyes were giving out a warning, a warning that she would say 'cut it out' in that low tone again if they said 'sorry' once more. They just stood there in silent panic, unable to do anything.

"Satsuki, are you okay?" squealed Papi. She was innocent like a young child.

Satsuki's answering tone was much higher than when she spoke to Miia and Cenotrea, most likely because she knew that Papi was more like a child, and truly innocent at heart, despite the fact that she was older than herself.

"I'm okay, Papi. You don't have to worry." She opened a drawer and took out a disinfectant and some rags, which she quickly made use of as she sat down on her chair. Her hands were skilled in doing this, as if indeed this sort of thing 'happens all the time'.

"Do you want me to get you something, like a first aid kit?" Mero wheeled closer to her, her eyes full of concern.

"I'm fine." She answered curtly, as she finished up applying the disinfectants, slightly wincing at the pain.

Seeing the wincing, Mero reached out her webbed hands, trying to help. "Here, let me help you with-"

Satsuki stopped moving. She slowly lowered her arm that she was using to wipe the blood, and instead threw the rag she was using at the floor. The wet piece of cloth landed on the floor with a small thump, which was even more intimidating than the sound of thunder.

The girls in the room tensed. They looked at each other with nervous eyes.

Satsuki lowered her head so that no one could see her facial expression. She was slightly trembling, and she was clenching her fist hard, causing some blood to ooze from the cuts on her left arm. One drop of blood fell to the floor and made a dripping sound.

"I said, _I'm fine!_ " She screamed. Her shaking voice was tightly enveloped in fury. "Please, just leave me alone!"

The girls froze in their spot. They didn't know what they should do.

"What's _wrong_ with…"

She quickly stopped continuing with her sentence, as if she thought that continuing would be a bad idea. She shook her head violently, and wrapped her head around with both of her hands. She was starting to breath irregularly, and everyone in the room could hear her panting. She looked like she was fighting something inside her brain. She looked like she was in pain.

"My lady!" Centorea stepped forward, noticing that this reaction wasn't due to her anger towards them. There was certainly a bigger problem than that.

Satsuki took one hand off her head and used it to make a blocking sign to the approaching centaur. "Don't come any closer! Don't…." She panting got even worse. "Please, don't…"

Papi, who was watching all of this, jumped high and then suddenly dived in front of the girl in pain, landing right in front of her. "Satsuki, are you okay-?" She asked, her voice filled with childish worry.

"Papi, Centorea! Step back!" Meroune shouted out, her voice filled with the vibe of a commanding royalty. The two hesitantly took a few steps back, their eyes on Satsuki.

"Mero, is there any way we can help her?" Miia asked as she grabbed Meroune's webbed hands tightly. She felt guilty for whatever was happening to her, and she desperately wanted to help. She was always the one that was injuring Kimihito when her actual intention was to just show her love to him. She ended up injuring his sister as well.

She wanted to do something-anything to make up for it.

"I'm afraid not," Lala spoke up as she tightened her grip on her scythe. "The thing that is happening to her is nothing that we can interfere in. Although it is most likely that the recent bloodshed was the trigger," she looked at Miia and Centorea, whose eyes heads were lowered with guilt. "the thing that is happening to her is something more than that, I fear. It is something that only she can get over by herself."

"My parents never really cared about us anyway. I guess I was expecting this to happen sooner or later."

The girls turned their attention to the familiar, but unexpected voice. There was no way he was in this room right now; he should be downstairs, talking with that man. Instead of Kimihito, they say Suu in the direction of the sound. Her antenna was attached to the door.

"Suu, are you listening to the conversation outside?"

Suu didn't bother to answer. She spoke in a different male voice, a voice that seemed much older. "Still, I would have expected you to be a bit more surprised."

The housemates got away from Satsuki for a moment and gathered around Suu. They were interested in, and wanted to hear the conversation that would follow.

"…Did I hear what I thought I've heard?"

The girls turned back. They realized that although for a very short amount of time, they completely forgot what they were dealing with. They faced the adolescent with horror.

Satsuki was now holding her head up. Her eyes were a gleaming red. They seemed like tainted, evil rubies.

Her eyes met theirs one by one. Each time her eyes met one of the liminals', it paralyzed their whole body. They couldn't move their body by their own will. They were frozen in place, not able to move a muscle. When they figured this out, it was already too late. There was nothing they could do about it.

Their vision was blinded, and they were starting to hear something. It was the sound of rain. The sound got bigger and bigger, until it was the only sound they could hear. They were seeing things, too. They could a heavy rainfall. They could see water, a high level of water that was reaching up to their waists. The water was brown and dirty, and it was filled with all kinds of substances, starting from bags to trash to small trees. The flow of the water was forming a fast current, enough to make even mature humans stumble, and young children get caught in it.

They were starting to feel the wetness slowly take over them. Their legs or tails were getting wet, slowly but steadily, until they could hear a snapping sound.

Then, suddenly, everything came back to normal.

The sound of rain, the water, the wet feeling- all of it just disappeared all of a sudden. When they woke up their eyes and regained their vision, they could see Lala standing next to Satsuki, who was now unconscious and leaning on her. The scythe in Lala's hand was gripped tightly, giving the girls a sign that it has been used. But there was no blood on it. It seemed like she used to hit her hard on her head or something to knock her out.

"That was close." Lala breathed out, as she let go of her scythe and started to move Satsuki so that she could be properly laid down on her bed. She had somehow avoided from getting affected by whatever the girl did.

The others didn't really know what to say. They just stood there with vacant eyes, trying to make out what just happened, feeling the movements of their limbs and the perception of their regular senses. Miia's eyes went out of focus. Meroune and Centorea were returning back to reality better than Miia, but even they weren't doing a very fine job. Papi was… well, Papi. After a few steps, she forgot everything about it and started humming a song. Suu was still standing by the door, although her antenna was no longer where it used to be. It was hard to read what she was thinking.

Lala was calm and almost unaffected; she placed the youth properly into her bed and even tucked her in, as she looked at her for quite a while. She then whispered something into her ear, and stroked her cheek tenderly. Although her eyes weren't lovey-dovey and affectionate, they still seemed to be showing a certain amount of understanding.

They did this for quite a while, until they could hear someone knocking on the door.

"Darling? Is that you?" asked a nervous lamia who desperately wanted to see her darling now more than ever. She wanted someone to explain everything that just went on, or at least stay there for her and comfort herself.

"Sorry I'm not your darling, Miia. Isn't this Satsuki's room?" answered a voice that could not be unrecognized.

"It is, and she's here, although she's, um, knocked out, I think."

"At this time of the day?"

"There has been some…events…" The lamia spoke slowly. "Are you okay now, Rachnera?"

There was a short pause before the lamia could get an answer.

"I think I am. At least I can't find any problem with my body yet." She paused once more, this time in hesitation, before she spoke again.

"Can I… Can I go in?"

Miia didn't answer back. It wasn't because she didn't want her in; it was more because she had no idea if she should be the one to be giving permission.

"Only if you can control yourself, Rachnera," answered a voice that rarely spoke up to the Arachne. It was Lala. "Thoughtless actions and abrupt reactions are not needed. You shall know by now. Enter only if you are confident that you won't do any of those."

The girls in the room couldn't hear anything for quite a while except for a few scraping sounds on the door.

"Then I'll stay away for now. But…" her voice was chocked with an emotion that was hard to describe. "When she wakes up, will you tell her… Will you tell her that I'm…"

A big inhale and exhale could be heard before she spit her last words.

"…sorry? Sorry for all I've done…. And everything else, too."


	15. Chapter 15

The Arachne started to move away from the door slowly.

"Stop, Rachnera."

She stopped and turned back.

"What is it, Lala?"

In the room, the dullahan stood up. Something about her was different today. Usually, she is always being laughed at for doing something out of context or immature. Today, she seemed very mature, and full of knowledge.

"I think I'll have to tell you, and everyone else," she looked around the girls that were in the room, "about what this is all about. I believe it is about time I reveal what had just happened. The one that has the most knowledge about the current situation is Mero, and even the princess of Neptune seems to be facing difficulties interpreting the situation."

The room and the hallway were silent, except for the distant sounds of talking that was coming from downstairs. Meroune couldn't rebut what Lala just said. She was right.

The silence was interrupted by a sigh that came out of Rachnera's mouth. She had enough to deal for a day. She doubted that any more 'information' would help her feel any better, and she was feeling horrible. But she wasn't the kind of person that liked to remain ignorant about the people around her. And she really did want to know what she just went to, since she honestly still couldn't make it all out in her head.

"I guess it's necessary," she finally answered. "Where should we gather?"

"In the attic," responded Centorea. "If a meeting is what should take place, there is no other place more appropriate, for all the other rooms aren't big enough, and the living room is unavailable."

No one argued.

* * *

"Since Rachnera couldn't hear what Satsuki told all of you earlier, I shall tell the story from the start once more.

Long ago, there was a time when extraspecies did not exist. Humans were the only species that roamed the lands with a certain amount of intelligence. Although there were strong animals that also roamed the lands, they were not intelligent enough to stand as a predator over the humans who knew how to use tools and fire. The human race thrived, and their numbers increased in a tremendous speed.

This was breaking the balance of nature. The numbers were increasing too fast that it was endangering the other species, hence the need for nature to work its magic. That is probably when extraspecies first appeared. No one, not even I myself, knows how they appeared. They just appeared one day. There are myths and tales about how they appeared, like the one related to Arachne, the human who became a spider due to a goddess' curse. But none of these can be proven."

"Why put in so much detail?"

"Be patient, Miia. Listen first."

Miia wasn't happy with Centorea's answer to her question, but she didn't say anything. Lala continued.

"The appearance of liminals ended the golden days of the human race. Liminals had much more physical power than the average humans, and although not all of them were as intelligent, most were intelligent enough to form groups. Many humans were killed for game and food, and they no longer stood as the apex predators. And this wasn't the only problem. Liminals and humans could breed with each other, and their offspring always ended up being a liminal, never a human. This was even more threatening to the human race than the physical inferiority.

You could imagine what happened. The human population dropped so much that this time the human race was endangered. So nature performed its magic again. Some humans were born with a strange ability: the ability to ensure that their offspring was always a human. Legends say that these humans became very attractive once they've reach maturity, especially to liminals. It was terribly effective. The marital customs of certain species, such as Lamias, made nature's move even more critical. It saved the human race from extinction. They were able to preserve their number."

"These humans were very special; not only because of the aforementioned ability, but also because of the certain traits that they soon earned. After a few generations, they turned out to be very powerful and in some cases, gifted. As I said, they were very attractive in the eyes of extraspecies. Hence most of them were taken by extraspecies, and their offspring, who were certainly human, inherited some traits from their other parent.

They were much stronger and had keen senses, and in some cases, they were gifted. Stories tell some of them were born with gifts such as the ability to see the movement of heat with their eyes, the ability to perform magic, and even conjure illusions. But not much is known of these humans… even in the legends that come down amongst the dullahans."

Lala closed her eyes.

"My instincts led me to this house. I could sense that a special being resided within these walls. When I first met him, I thought that he was the one that was giving out a special vibe. While I wasn't perfectly mistaken, I still missed out on the possibility that he would have a family member that was special as well. Despite the period of time they were apart, the years they have spent together seemed to have bestowed him a peculiar aura. Perhaps that is the main factor that led me here."

"Wait a minute," Rachnera stopped Lala from saying anything else. "So you're saying that Satsuki isn't exactly human? Honey as well?"

"Yes for the first question, No for the second one," replied Meroune. "She said that she was adopted."

"What the…" Rachnera held her head. "Are you sure that's absolutely true? That sounds more like a fantasy story than reality."

"It may not be true, but can you give a better explanation for what you have experienced?" Lala shot back. Rachnera couldn't answer back.

"We dullahans live a long life. We have witnessed the most mysterious events of the world. Stories come down, generation to generation. Some of it may be inaccurate, I do not deny that. But I am very confident to propose that Satsuki Kurusu is a variant. A gifted one, too."

Rachnera groaned. She wasn't too sure how she was supposed to accept that.

Miia was having something else in mind. "'Variant'? Is that how they're called?"

"There is no fixed way of calling them, Miss Miia," replied Meroune. "Most beings don't even know their existence, and even to those who know, they are often perceived as beings that don't actually exist now, for those who know consider them to be nearly extinct. They are rarely mentioned; hence the exact terminology wasn't fixed. Everyone calls them differently: variants, mutants, mutations, the others, the cursed…"

"Okay then, let's say that you're right." Rachnera spoke out. "She's a variant, or whatever. I've never heard about anything like it throughout my whole life. How come none of us knew about all of this variant-thing?"

"Actually, Miss Rachnera, I did know about this beforehand."

"You're an exception," Rachnera spoke right back. "You're a damn princess."

Centorea added in. "Actually, that concerned me as well. If such a species existed, then wouldn't we all know of it? Stories would have come down, especially within kinds like lamias, who need humans to breed."

Miia nodded in approval.

Meroune cleared her throat. "That is another long story, and I doubt that we need to talk about it now." Her voice seemed slightly uneasy. "There are more urgent things that we have to talk about for now."

"Like what?" Miia demanded.

"Miss Rachnera, what did you… shall I say, 'feel'? I'm pretty sure you went through something, back in Satsuki's room. Would you talk about that?"

Rachnera froze. All of this talking was taking her mind off from the experience, but Meroune's question brought it back. It was quite painful just thinking about it. It was as if she could feel those cold cuts in her skin again. And she wasn't so sure how she was supposed to put it in words.

"I don't know if this makes any sense, but…"

She explained what she went through. She explained about the situation, the extraspecies that appeared, the pain, and how it felt like she was the one experiencing it, rather than just an observer. She saw the faces of the girls frown as she elaborated. They obviously weren't happy to hear that any liminal would do that to a human.

"Those scoundrels!" Centorea hit the wall with her fist. "Do they not know that their actions could be deemed as the actions of all extraspecies?"

"Why would they try to kill an innocent girl?" cried out Miia. "There is no need to do so now! We promised on peace!"

"Bad! Bad, bad, bad!" chirped Papi, who was soon joined with suu.

Lala just shook her head. Meroune's frown deepened.

"If I'm guessing it right," Rachnera added, "I think I was in her memory."

"Who's?" Miia asked back.

"Satsuki's."

An odd silence filled up the attic.

"How can you assure that?" Centorea asked, as she looked at Rachnera in the eye. She was the only one who saw the cuts on Satsuki with her that day, and knew that it was a group of liminals that caused it. She seemed to have found the connection.

"Before I… 'saw' that, I was asking Satsuki about some stuff."

"What kind of stuff? Rachnera, did you…"

Rachnera's face got hard. "Yes, Miia. I was asking her about her past. I was asking her how she got those cuts. And I confess that I wasn't asking her nicely. I was tying her up and hanging her from the ceiling and all that."

Miia was furious. "You promised Darling that you wouldn't ask about that, Rachnera! How can you break a promise with him!"

Rachnera paused for a while. "I'm not going to defend myself. I know that I didn't nothing right, to Honey or even Satsuki. I was wrong."

Miia rose up, her face was red hot with anger and her yellow snake eyes were murderous. "Rachnera!"

"Calm down, Miia!"

Miia shook of Centorea's hands that were grabbing her arms. "Let go of me! We made a promise all together with Darling. We were supposed to keep it!"

Tears gathered around her eyes. "Now we broke that promise. We betrayed his trust. Darling will never believe us again!" She broke into sobs.

Papi and Suu went up to Miia and tried to calm her down. In the meantime, the others were glaring at Rachnera.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Miss Rachnera."

"I know." Rachnera lowered her head. "I'm… sorry to all of you as well. I'll do my best to take responsibility of it by myself."

The glaring didn't stop, but none of the girls actually yelled or took action. They knew that it was useless to do so. The act was done, and nothing could undo it. Lala was the first one to break that tension.

"If what you said is true, then it seems like what we've seen and felt was also a part of her memory as well."

"You guys went through it, too?"

Lala nodded. "We broke out of it before it was too late, but we did experience something that seemed like a giant flood."

"A flood? Nothing else?"

"I knocked her out before we could experience anything more. It seems like it takes more time and effort for her to affect several people at a time. I had to take advantage of it."

"So that is also part of her memory as well?"

"That's what I'm guessing."

Another silence filled between the girls. The only thing that could be heard was Miia sniffling. But even that sniffling came to an halt when the lamia sensed something.

"Someone's coming."

The other girls could feel it, too. The sound of footsteps was getting louder. The girls waited until the footsteps got very loud and soon stopped entirely.

"Darling!"

A very familiar, warm voice answered back. "Hey, Miia. I was looking everywhere. Is everyone there with you?"

Miia didn't answer. Instead, she opened the small trapdoor of the attic and used her tail to reel in Kimihito in a tremendous speed. The clueless man was traveling in midair until he finally arrived right in front of the lamia and was caught in her tight embrace from behind.

Her arms were around his stomach and her tail was coiled around his legs and arms so that they couldn't move. Unlike usual, when her embraces were too tight enough to suffocate him, this embrace was tender and very cautious. She laid her head on his back, which was wearier than usual, and hid her face in it. She felt his warm, strong heartbeat getting faster. She felt the texture of his youthful, healthy, human skin.

She savored all of these as if she would never be able to do so again. She was afraid, afraid that he wouldn't trust her if he found out what has happened to his sister. She was afraid that he would turn his back on her and avoid her, even abandon her. She was afraid that she would never see that warm smile again. She felt a tear roll down her cheek.

The others were watching this with uneasy looks, but no one tried to stop it. Some of them thought that Miia needed a moment like that to calm herself. A certain Arachne thought that she had no right to interfere.

The raven headed man that was caught by the lamia found this strange. Although it was nothing unusual for her to be forward and all, it wasn't usual for the others to just watch over it with sad faces. And Miia was never this cautious when she was giving him a hug.

"Huh? What's happening?" The man's eyes went blank as he moved his eyes around the room, and tried to look behind at the lamia.

The lamia bit her lip. More tears rolled down her cheek as she started to cry. She was doing a good job on not making a sound, but Kimihito wasn't senseless enough to not notice the wet feeling on his back.

"Miia, what's happening? Why are you crying? What the-"

Miia didn't let him finish his sentence. She just couldn't keep up with the efforts of staying quietly. She wept aloud. The whole attic was filled with only the sound of her sniffles and crying. Kimihito, caught tightly, couldn't do anything about it except for looking at the others with a worried and surprised look. The others just sighed.

"Darling," she finally managed to say in a tearful voice after a whole minute of crying. "Are you going to let us stay?"


	16. Chapter 16

"Huh? What do you even mean by that? Why wouldn't I stay with you guys?"

The lamia hugged him tighter. "Darling…" She couldn't continue.

Kimihito looked at the others frantically. His startled eyes were moving all around the room, switching its focus from one girl to another.

"Hey, can anyone help out? What's going on here? Why's Miia crying and saying stuff like this all of a sudden?"

Rachnera stepped out from the corner of the room and approached her host family. She wasn't crying like Miia was, but it was evident that she wasn't any less distressed.

"Honey, it's all my fault."

Kimihito looked at her with blank eyes. "Rachnee?"

Rachnera took a deep breath and explained. She explained what she did to Satsuki, and what she asked, and what she has experienced as a result. By the time she was at the end of her story, her voice was trembling.

"I…I'm sorry, Honey… I know I've promised you then that I won't ask her about her past and what she's been through… I just… I was just curious and… It's all my fault, Honey."

Centorea then started to talk. She told him about the more recent event. She and Miia, who was still clinging onto him, apologized and apologized endlessly, telling him that they shouldn't have done that, and that they should have been much more careful.

Kimihito's response was hard to interpret. It wasn't totally forgiving and understanding like the times when Miia accidently almost crushed his bones during an embrace, nor was it totally angry and unforgiving. It was somewhere in the middle.

"So that's why Satsuki started all this," he finally spoke after listening to everything and taking some time, probably to think this out. His next sentence surprised everyone in the attic. "I'm not so sure if you should be sorry to me, Rachnera, and everyone else."

Rachnera's six eyes widened. "But Honey, I broke my promise! And I also disturbed your sister… and…"

Kimihito cut in before she could continue. "Well, I'm not going to lie. I am a bit angry to hear that you've actually done that to her. And to think of how it would have been for her to think about those kinds of memories again... I do think that it was a very reckless act, even in your standards."

Rachnera's head dropped. Of course he would be angry.

"But did you think about why I would have asked you all that at the first place?"

Rachnera looked back up at him. "Well, you said that it was a personal request… so that she could be comfortable at home…"

"Well, that's half of it." The young man admitted. "But the other half I asked you guys not to ask that to her was… well, for you guys." He smiled sheepishly. "I knew that if you asked that to her, then you certainly wouldn't get a good start in your relationship with Satsuki. To be honest, I didn't know it would come this far, but… at least I could see that things could get pretty awkward. And she's my sister after all. She'll be sticking around here from now on, that she's back, and I thought that it would be nice if all of you went along."

Everyone in the attic couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"And things ended up like this. I hoped this wouldn't happen, and I warned you in my own way, but it happened anyway. Actually, Rachnee, the first thing I wanted to ask you when you woke up, and when I found out about what just happened, was whether you guys were okay." He broke into his signature warm, understanding smile. "Are you all okay? I know that it could be a pretty hard experience. I've went through that before. To be honest, I was knocked out for the rest of the day, and I'm surprised to see you all taking it off so well."

"Why…" Rachnera was having a hard time trying to figure out what to say. She was too overwhelmed with emotions. "Why are you not angry at me, Honey? I broke the promise! Why…"

"To clarify that, Rachnera, that was my request, not really a promise. Those two are different. Although it would have been the best if you kept your word, I don't think I can fault you for not doing so. I didn't make you promise."

Kimihito looked even more straightly into the arachne's main eyes. "Besides, I can see that you are considering me and my feelings. Not only that, I think there is my fault for not explaining it thoroughly enough. If I had, then things would have been much more peaceful. As a result of my misbehavior, you've had a horrible experience, and I'm really sorry about that. A lot of it's my fault. Will you forgive me for that?" He smiled.

"Honey…" The arachne's eyes were starting to tear up. Why is he apologizing, when it is evident that there is nothing for him to apologize? Why does he always know the right thing to say? Why is he always so… There were so many things that she wanted to tell him, so many things that she should tell her, but she just couldn't move her mouth.

"But," Kimihito started to talk again, the very word making Rachnera's heard drop. "That's just talking about half of it, talking about myself."

Of course, thought the three girls. There was the other half that they had to consider.

Kimihito's face turned hard. "I told you earlier, but I'm not happy about what happened to her. Back when we were talking together, it was too clear to see that she didn't want to do all that, or remember anything related to these memories that she has shown you."

He paused for a bit. "But that's not anything that you have to apologize to me. For the other half, for Satsuki, you'll have to apologize separately to her. Once she accepts your apology, then I'll be totally fine about all this. After all, I made some similar mistakes in the past, and it would be wrong for me to keep a grudge on you for doing the same." He laughed a bit at his own joke. "Would you do that? Would you do that for me, Rachnera? Miia? Centorea?"

"Why, yes, of course! But… Is that all that…?" Rachnera really wanted to speak out a complete sentence. She wanted to tell him how grateful she was, and she wanted to show him how much she loved that part of him. She hated herself for being utterly hopeless.

"Then it's all good." He returned into his warm smile. "If she's the same Satsuki I know, then, I'm pretty sure she'll be quite sorry about doing that to you, too. Just apologize to her. That's all you have to do for me."

A blissful silence filled up the attic for a moment. The peace was broken by a certain squealing.

"Oh Darling, you're so lovely and sweet!"

"Miia, careful! The ribs, the ribs!"

* * *

The rest of the day went on peacefully as it could. Kimihito cooked up a wonderful dinner, and everyone devoured. Miia almost crushed his bones again, and Papi broke a cup. Centorea and Rachnera didn't talk much, but they didn't seem too troubled. In fact, they were staring at Kimihito up to a point that Meroune tapped on their shoulders and told them that they looked like teenage girls looking at their first crush. They were lucky Kimihito didn't see their faces turn into tomatoes.

Meanwhile, Lala was watching over Satsuki for most of the time. She didn't do much except for looking at her. She seemed to be thinking a lot while she did that. What she was thinking of was a mystery, since she didn't tell anyone, not that there was anyone next to her to tell anything to. It was late in the night, just before everyone went to bed, that someone else finally came into Satsuki's room.

"Lala, were you looking over her?" asked Kimihito as he opened the door quietly. He was worn out after cleaning up the dinner mess.

The dullahan nodded. "She doesn't seem to be sleeping peacefully. It seems like the young one is having nightmares."

Kimihito came closer to the bed. "She never slept well, even when she was very young. I hoped that maybe it would have got better by now." He looked at his sister sympathetically.

After some time of silence, the dullahan spoke up. "You said that you've experienced something similar in the past."

Kimihito sighed. "Yes, I experienced the one you guys went through earlier, the one with all the water, the flood incident. That's why I wasn't too surprised with what happened there. I shouldn't have done that, but… I guess I just was too stupid."

"Didn't it ever cross your mind back then, that she might not be human?"

Kimihito frowned slightly. "Thinking about it, I guess it should have." He gave out a sigh. "But ever since that happened once, she never did that to me again. And I think I just kinda forgot over time."

Lala looked at him. "Seriously? You just forgot?"

"There were a lot of other things happening around me. I honestly couldn't get my head straight most of the time."

"…" Lala was at loss of words. Perhaps this man was even more mysterious than she thought.

"Lala," Kimihito spoke out as he gently stroke his sister's head, his voice calm and quiet yet at the same time serious. "Do you think Satsuki went through many other events like that, you know, the attacks, when she was gone?"

Lala gripped on her scythe hard. "That is something that I do not know. I am a dullahan, not a sorcerer, or a being with psychic powers."

Kimihito's shoulders dropped. "I guess you're right. I just thought that maybe you might know more about her than me."

Lala shifted the scythe's position using her hands. "It is true that I know more about her kind more than anyone else in the house. However, as much I do not want to admit it, even I do not know too much of her. Her kind was considered a legend, something that remained only during the past, for a long time. Not many records remain. I myself was surprised to find out that she turned out to be one."

She turned her head to look at Kimihito. "But there are a few things that I could tell you about her kind. Do you wish to know about them?"

Before Kimihito could answer to that, she added in, "But, I shall warn you, that these stories are the most depressing, yet true. There is a chance that you might not see her in the same way after hearing this. There is an even greater chance that the other residents of this house might not see her in the same way after hearing this. There is a truth to be heard, but it is so hideous that it might be better for it to be concealed. Do you still wish to hear about it?"

* * *

In the meantime, Centorea was in her room. She was wondering what she should do, since she has just finished polishing her sword. She thought for a moment, and then decided that she would write to her mother. After she got a fountain pen and some paper to write on, she knelt down on the ground so that she could use the low table in her room. She uncapped the fountain pen and started off in the top left corner.

 _Dear Mother,_

 _How long it has been since my last letter, mother. Forgive me for my lack of thought. How are you doing, mother? Are you well? Is everyone in the village safe? Again, forgive me for not writing earlier. I wished to write earlier, but there were so many events! You wouldn't even believe some of them._

 _Everyone, including me, is doing well. I am in excellent health, and I am never neglecting the duty of protecting my master. I train regularly, and feel stronger than ever. Master is doing well, too. He is good to me, and everyone else in this house._

Centorea smiled as she thought of her master. She added in a few more lines about her master.

 _To be perfectly honest, mother, I thought that he would ask me to leave when he found out about something. I was afraid to face it, and I spent many hours pondering about it, but it all turned out to be in vain. My master was, and is, an excellent man, mother. He has forgiven me for my wrongdoings, and he does not think of me differently even after listening to something that must have been greatly shocking. I am happy to be in his care._

She looked at those lines in satisfaction, then moved on writing what she was intending to write.

 _Mother, there is a reason why I chose to write to you at this particular time. A few days ago, Master's younger sister returned to the house. I myself have never heard of her before, and I was very astounded to see her on the doorstep on the day of her arrival. She was very badly injured, and was on the verge of death, mother. She says that she has been travelling for 2 years, but I do not know much of her. Pardon me, I was going off-topic._

 _Anyway mother, the lady declared that she has met met ye. She says that she has been to England during her journeys and has met you there. She guessed that I was a Shianus after looking at me, and told me that I resemble you, mother. Although that is true, I was truly astonished to hear that. Ye have never told me about a human girl that has been in our territories. Yet, I do not think she was lying. I believe that she is telling the truth._

 _Does anyone in particular come into your mind, mother? She is a young girl, with slightly dark skin, and her hair is the color of the night sky. Her eyes are a very dark brown, the color of dark chocolate. Anyone who sees her would know that she would grow up to be a very charming young lady. And her name is Satsuki Kurusu, mother. Perhaps you remember that name?_

 _It hasn't been long since you have last visited, but it seems to have been quite a while ago. Please know that I miss you and love you, mother, but that wouldn't let me forgive you for being disrespectful to my Master. Take care, mother._

 _Yours truly,_

 _Centorea Shianus_

After Centorea finished the letter, she carefully folded it and put it inside an envelope, which she soon sealed.

"I shall put this in the postbox when I go out on my morning run tomorrow," she murmured to herself. She left the envelope on the table as she left her room, thinking of going to see her Master to show him his gratitude.

On her way to his room, though, she encountered Miia, who was holding a pillow and was in her revealing lingerie, standing right in front of his door. They started quarreling, and soon enough Papi came out of nowhere and started quarreling with them (Centorea and Miia were both quite sure that the harpy had no idea why she got herself involved in the fight). It wasn't until Suu and Rachnera came to the scene and took care of the catfight that the house became quiet again. Kimihito was truly lucky that he wasn't around at the moment; he was in Satsuki's room, talking with Lala.

When he did come to the scene, everything was pretty much settled. He was pretty tired, so he excused himself and went into his room. The girls certainly didn't want him to go to sleep, but they couldn't help it; he had too many dark circles around his eyes, making himself look like he's just been back from hell. Plus, he had to work tomorrow, since it is a Monday. However, even after he laid on his bed, although he was very tired, he couldn't quite fall asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

Kimihito opened his eyes. Again. He lost count of how many times he opened his eyes after he fell into his bed to sleep. He didn't even care to look at the clock. But he was pretty sure that quite an amount of time passed, maybe even hours. One thing was for sure: he was tired as hell, but his god-damn body isn't giving him the rest he needs. That wasn't anything to be happy about.

He shifted in his bed for maybe the tenth time, this time ending up facing the windows. The moon was nowhere to be seen, although it wasn't a cloudy day. Only a few stars were lighting up the night sky. Tonight was the night of the new moon. 'That's strange', he thought to himself. Not that he really liked a nice full moon, of course. A full moon meant disaster. An additional full moon would probably be the last thing he wanted. But it was weird to see no moon at all. He found himself just staring at the somewhat empty night sky, thinking of all kinds of useless stuff, mostly just to cast away the thoughts he didn't want to keep in his head.

That was when he spotted a small glistening. It wasn't big, but it was long, like a thin, long, string. At first, he thought he was seeing this out of fatigue, but his brain managed to figure it out. No, he wasn't seeing things. He was perfectly sane.

"Rachn- Mmph!"

Kimihito could swear that he couldn't see her when he was staring outside the window. But somehow, now she was there. Someone should really consider researching the biology systems of an Arachne in depth.

Her light violet hair glistened in the starlight. Her 6 bright, red eyes were eyeing him with obvious wanting, no, craving. They were like giant, lustful, rubies in the night sky, if rubies could be lustful in any way. Although Kimihito couldn't really see what she was wearing, with the darkness and all, he could still trace out her curvaceous body lines and of course, the outlines of her spider half and all of her legs. The exoskeleton looked sharp, long, black, and even a bit shiny- in other words, for Kimihito, she was just dangerously alluring.

And she must have somehow found a way to set up her spider webs in his room enough hang him up in the ceiling, covering his mouth, too, within the time just enough to blink.

"Honey," she called out, with a dangerously seductive, feminine voice. She seemed to have added an extra enchanting option in it as well. "Is anything wrong? What's keeping you from going to sleep?" The tone of her voice made it obvious that she wasn't really asking him. She already had an answer in mind.

If words could be sticky, then her words were just that. Another way to say it would be that it was somewhat like a bog, or even quicksand. It was creeping into the target's mind, which happened to be Kimihito's, trying to sink it in itself, and never let go. The only difference was that it wasn't as dangerous, at least physically.

She moved closer to him, and she carefully cupped his chin in her right hand. He could feel the cool, hard, exoskeleton against his skin. She locked her eyes with his, sending a shiver down his spine. Were her eyes always that red? She smiled slyly. "It's way past bedtime, Honey."

"Mmph!"

"What's that?" The Arachne whispered, as she pulled him in closer. Their lips were just about to meet. Kimihito could smell something familiar from her-the smell of coffee. "I can't hear you properly."

Kimihito's face looked like it was about to explode. Rachnera trying to seduce him was not uncommon at all, but it was rarely this intense, nor did she try to make a major move when she was slightly tipsy. Most of the seductions ended with Rachnera tying him up in an embarrassing pose. Even if she did try to take it farther than that, one of the girls would be around to stop her. And in either situation, he would somehow be able to move, at least a bit.

But that wasn't the case for this time. The webs were binding him so that there was no room for him to move at all. And even if he was able to move, one small budge would crash his spider-web-covered-lips right into hers, which would not be good at all.

'Wait, it wouldn't be totally no good at all… It'll be soft and…'

'No!' He mentally slapped himself. 'Get a grip on yourself, you dumbass! She's not fully herself! You're going to get her deported and get yourself in jail!'

Rachnera watched as obvious signs of inner conflict appeared and on the young man's face. She smirked. In a way, it almost looked like an evil smile. She moved herself so that her lips would barely touch his right ear.

"Come on, Honey," she whispered, brushing her lips on his ear tenderly in the process. "I know what it means when a young man can't go to sleep in a house full of young ladies."

"Mm! Mmmm!" He protested, 'No, it's not like what you're thinking about!' or at least he tried to, but of course the efforts were useless.

"You don't have to try so hard to conceal it, Honey." She continued to whisper to him, the sly smile still there. "I know what you're thinking about. I came to your room knowing what you want." Kimihito could swear that he could feel her tongue slightly touching his earlobes when she said 'want'.

Rachnera pressed one of her fingers strongly on something in midair, and soon a snapping sound was heard. Kimihito automatically shut his eyes tightly, as he expected himself to crash-land on his floor.

But he didn't.

Confused, he opened his eyes to see what has changed. He was still being hanged in midair. His legs were still tied up as well. The different feeling was coming from his arms and his face. The webs that were tying them to his torso had disappeared, and now he could move his arms freely. He looked down at his hands in puzzlement as he opened his arms. He could also feel that the webs that stopped him from saying anything comprehensible. He moved his mouth, and put his hands against his lips, just to check if this was real. 'Since when did Rachnera let me move my arms and talk while I was being hanged?'

But he didn't get to think for long.

While he was too absorbed in his thinking, Rachnera managed to take one swift dive, right into his open arms. Swiftly, but not too strongly, she managed to catch him in a tight embrace, being extra careful not to accidently hurt him with her claw-like fingers. Her head landed right next to his head, to be exact, right above his shoulder. Their heads were on the same level, which was not something that usually happened, mostly because of Rachnera's obvious superiority in height. Her pedipalps were around his hip, catching him firmly, but not strongly enough to squeeze him. But these details weren't exactly coming into Kimihito's mind. Right now, he was too busy feeling the soft, smooth, ample breasts that were pressing against his own chest. And he didn't have to look down to know that Rachnera wasn't wearing anything.

 _'Holy shit,'_ he thought to himself, repeatedly. Something about her was very different today, and it was making things harder for Kimihito to process. If it was the usual Rachnera, then he would beg her to let him down, or just play along as the helpless captive for a while until she would let him go. But this plan won't work against the Rachnera that he was encountering right now. He somehow just knew that.

"Rachnee? What is all this?" he asked, trying very hard not to stutter. It was getting hard for him to not let go of his mind. His face looked like a ripe tomato now.

"Honey," she whispered back. Lucky for Kimihito, her voice was now more serious rather than seductive. Of course, the latter wasn't totally absent, but at least it was more tolerable for the poor young man. "You know what all this is about. You know why I'm acting like this."

"Huh? No, I don't. Well, I understand that you have been drinking some coffee, but I don't really get why all of a sudden, you're so-"

"So?" She asked back, as she slowly pulled her face from where it was and placed it so that now she could look at his face, and he could look as hers. Her eyes were wide with curiosity, and her cheeks were dyed red.

"Uh…" But this change wasn't helping him finding the right word to say. "So… um… different?"

"Different?" She looked back with a confused look. "This isn't the first time I've got you in my webs."

"I know, but… What should I say? You just seem much… intense, no, not just intense, but also much smoother… I don't know how to say it," he finally gave up. "But it just seems so different."

Rachnera slightly smiled. It wasn't the lustful smile that he has seen multiple times, nor was it a snorting. It was just a small smile with a little red in the cheeks that almost seemed sheepish and innocent, the kind of smile that he would expect from anyone except for Rachnera. That alone was enough to startle him.

So when Rachnera bent towards him and kissed him on the lips, his brain almost stopped functioning.

It wasn't deep, sticky, or in any way sexy or lustful. It was short and light, just like a light peck of a bird. Kimihito never kissed a girl before, so he knew nothing about kisses, but even he could feel that despite its shortness, it was full of emotion.

Totally dumbfounded, he looked at the Arachne, his eyes totally blank. His jaws were hanging open, as if they forgot how to close themselves. He looked like a complete idiot, but he himself wasn't in a state enough to acknowledge that. The only thing he kept on repeating to himself was 'She's not herself, she had some coffee.' He just wanted an explanation for this behavior of hers. This kind of behavior, not from Miia, not from Cerea, not from Mero, but Rachnera?

Rachnera slightly smiled as she watched the reaction of the young man. Although she expected this kind of reaction, she couldn't help smiling to actually see it in person. She knew that he looked like an idiot, and she knew that at normal circumstances, she would be making fun of it. But somehow she didn't feel like making fun of it. She wasn't sure if it was because of the coffee, or if it was something totally different. All she could do was look back at him with affection. She couldn't believe it herself.

When Kimihito finally regained his senses and started to move his mouth to say something, she quickly put a finger against his lips.

"Shush, Honey," she said. "Don't say anything."

Kimihito looked into her main eyes, his eyes wide as a surprised rabbit.

"Honey," Rachnera started to stay, her finger still pressed against his lips. "I know it's quite sudden, and that I didn't act like…how I usually acted. I myself couldn't actually decide on what I should do even after I came into this room. You already seemed to have noticed, but I needed to drink some coffee to get the courage to come in here at all. So I went on with my… usual actions, at first. To be honest, It's not like I didn't have the urge to... But anyway, I thought that it wasn't the right way to express. You're kind enough to bear with my jokes and tricks, but even I know that you don't necessarily enjoy it."

She stopped for a moment, and took a deep breath before she continued.

"You know that I don't like humans, Honey. And you know why. You even know that I'm still having a hard time getting over it. To tell you the truth Honey, I'm still don't think humans can be trusted. I still don't believe that a lot of them could actually be okay." She felt Kimihito's lips moving, trying to rebut her. The small smile appeared on her face again. "Don't worry, Honey. That doesn't apply to you."

"Earlier today, I literally messed up. I ruined everything. You might not agree to it, but I broke a promise I made with you. I intimidated a young girl, your sister, who did nothing wrong. I brought out a horrible memory, which I'm pretty sure she didn't want to remember again. I did that when I already knew that she had been attacked by my own brethren, and was badly hurt."

"But I'm pretty sure you didn't actually have a bad intention! And it wasn't you that attacked her!" Kimihito exclaimed, managing to speak out while Rachnera wasn't paying attention to her index finger.

Rachnera looked into his warm, brown eyes. "You always know the right thing to say, don't you, Honey." She pressed her finger hard against his lips again, stopping him from saying anything more. Her facial expression was getting hard to interpret. She was making a face that Kimihito has never seen before.

"Perhaps I didn't mean all of that. But to be honest, I did actually mean some of those, you know? Besides, even if I didn't, that doesn't change anything. Honey, it's not natural for people to be forgiving about actions that have harmed them, even if they were not done with evil intentions. I still can't forgive Ren, even when I now know that she was mostly ignorant and young, not evil or bad. And most people, including me, can't help but to generalize things. Look at me."

She locked eyes with the raven headed man. Now Kimihito could see the detail that he's been missing, the detail that was the key to find out what kind of face she was making. He could see a slight glistening at the edges of her eyes. She was on the verge of crying. Kimihito has never been in more panic in his life. Rachnera Arachnera, crying?

"But you," her voice trembled. "You weren't like any other, were you? You had all the reason, all the right to be angry at me back then. Your sister is probably the most important person to you now. I could see how much you care for her. But you didn't turn your back from me and cast me out of the house. You didn't say anything rough. Instead, you asked me if I was okay, and said that you were the one to be sorry. I did something horrible to your family, but you… You forgave me. Just like that."

A full tear formed at the edge of her left eye, and the teardrop soon flowed down her face.

"I… I don't know what I'm doing right now. I have no idea what I'm saying. But Honey…"

She hesitated for a moment, and bent down to give him another light kiss on his lips. When Kimihito looked back at her, she was fully smiling, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Right now, she wasn't the Rachnera that always hid her emotions behind a mask. She wasn't the sarcastic black widow. She was just herself, moved and touched, and very happy. And she was not trying to hide it. Kimihito's mind was going crazy. He couldn't really believe what he was seeing or hearing. He had no idea of what he should do.

"I did want to tell you, to express, how much I'm grateful. You are the best human, that I've seen, and I know that I won't be able to see anyone that is better than you. I… I lo… no," she quickly corrected, "I thank you, Kimihito Kurusu. I'm sorry that I can't tell everything that's in my mind in a better way. You're a great neighbor and friend to everyone. You're a great brother to Satsuki. And you are a good man to me."

Rachnera tried to say something more, but she couldn't. One reason was that she just couldn't figure out what words she should say. But that was only the minor one.


	18. Chapter 18

Her last sentence made Kimihito a rational human being again.

'You're a great brother.'

Was he? Kimihito wasn't too sure.

"Honey? Are you okay?" He could hear Rachnera calling him, but he couldn't focus on her.

He knew that he wasn't a great brother at all. He knew that he wasn't worthy of being called that. If he was a great brother, then he would have found his sister when she disappeared. He knew that his sister was not a person to leave him, so if he was a great brother, he would have found her no matter what; he would have found her while she was wandering the world for those 2 years. He would have found her before she came back all bloody and on the verge of death.

But he couldn't. He couldn't find her before this happened. He couldn't help her come back home. He left her vulnerable to all the dangers in the world. He just waited at home while she was being attacked enough to endanger her life.

"No, I'm not."

"Honey, what's the matter? Did I…"

"I'm not a great brother, Rachnee."

Kimihito looked up at Rachnera. His eyes were no longer blank; instead, they were a clearly visible brown. Tears were starting to gather at the edges.

"Honey?"

"I'm not a great brother," he somehow said, although it would not have been audible if he was talking to a human and not an Arachne. "I…I'm a terrible brother. I…"

"Honey, get a grip on yourself. You're not-"

"I'm horrible. I was somehow convincing myself that I'm not, when I didn't know what has given her all those cuts. But now I know. I was, and I still am, horrible. I shouldn't have let all that happen to her. I should have kept her safe. I couldn't do that."

"Ho-"

"And what's more, I still can't do anything to help her!" He yelled. Rachnera could swear that she has never seen him scream at her, or more importantly, look so helpless. "I can't do anything. It's devastating enough to know that you couldn't realize what your sister was during all that time you spent with her. Now I know that I can't do anything to help her. **Anything**." He covered his eyes with his hand. Only he knew that his hands were getting wet.

Rachnera had no idea what she should do. Despite the caffeine in her systems, she knew that she has never been in this kind of position in her life. Would she be able to cheer him up? She had a very strong feeling that no word would be able to comfort him now. In fact, she had a feeling that she would never be able to understand what he was feeling right now.

Adopted or not, she is his sister. She knew well about the man in front of her to know that Kimihito is not a guy that would not think of her as her true sister just because they weren't connected in blood. She could see how much he cared for her. One day he just found out that his sister disappeared. He couldn't find her for two years.

What would have he felt? Emptiness? Hopelessness? Despair? Just thinking about that was difficult enough for her. Losing her wouldn't have left him in any okay state. She could now understand why his usually blank eyes no longer lost its color ever since Satsuki returned to the house. The loss of his sister was the reason behind the blankness of his eyes. Now that she was back, they no longer stayed blank, except for some exceptional situations.

After pondering for a while, she decided to just stay still. She hated herself for making that decision; if their situations were reversed, Kimihito wouldn't have just stood there doing nothing. She clenched her fists. But she didn't change her decision, justifying herself by saying that there was nothing she could do make it better, and if she did or said anything, it would just make things worse.

She didn't have to wait for long. After a few minutes, she could see his head drop, totally surrendering to sleep. Rachnera couldn't blame him. So many things happened that day, and it was already very late in the night. When she was absolutely sure that he was totally asleep, she lifted him up in her arms. She did her best to do it gently, so that she wouldn't wake him up or even worse, hurt him. And her efforts weren't in vain. Except for the one small turn he made when her cool exoskeleton brushed against his cheek, he didn't even budge. It didn't take her even 10 seconds to lay him down on his bed.

With her eyes, she could see his face well even without any light. She could see his red, swollen eyes, and knew that he has cried during those few minutes. She gave a kiss to each of his closed eyes before she left his room through the window. She had a feeling that from now on, she would be facing more truths, truths that she might actually regret knowing.

* * *

Mero woke up as always. She leaped out of her pool and got dressed, and got in her wheelchair. She wheeled herself outside of her room, and was about to wait for someone, anyone to get her down the stairs, when she sensed something was different. Usually, at this time of the day, her beloved was cooking in the kitchen, and the whole house would smell appetizing. But she couldn't smell that today. To be exact, she could sense the smell of food, but it wasn't as strong as any other day. She was just about to wonder why when she could hear some voices through the hallway.

"Seriously, Satsuki, it's all useless-Oww!"

"It is so not useless. Do you have any idea how unorganized you looked like until now? I can't believe all of the girls around you didn't point that out!"

Mero knew those voices. She headed toward the room where the voices were coming from, a gentle smile on her face. Although she wasn't too sure how she should think about the latter speaker, she was getting a good feeling by just listening to that brother-sister, friendly quarrel. And despite everything that happened yesterday, she was happy to hear her Beloved get involved in such a friendly conversation. She knew that that wasn't anything he was able to get, with so many girls around him.

"Even if you do all this now, you know that it would just be temporary. How on earth will I ever comb my hair, put on all this lotion, and dress like this every day?"

"You will learn, Kimi. Just like when I was still home."

Mero turned the doorknob and busted into the room.

"Good morning, Beloved! And Satsuki, of course."

* * *

A few minutes later, in the kitchen, Kimihito was being looked by a very curious Papi, as he moved the plates filled with food to the table.

"Boss, why do you look so different today?"

"I don't know Papi," Kimihito sighed, as he placed two plates on the table. "Ask that to Satsuki. She did a lot to me this morning."

"Satsuki, do it every morning! Master looks cool!"

Satsuki grinned as she brought the last dishes to the table. "See, Kimi? Everyone else loves it except for yourself. You're just denying that you look much better this way because you're too lazy to prepare yourself every morning."

He groaned, "Ugh, May, I told you, it's not just that!"

"Darling! You look wonderful!"

Kimihito sighed as he looked at the direction of the voice. It was the rest of the girls coming towards the kitchen, with Miia dashing towards him. He could see Mero winking at him, and he sighed again, this time only inside his mind, in relief. At least the message was properly passed on among the girls.

Satsuki woke up this morning, not being able to remember what has happened yesterday. Well, to be exact, not everything; she just forgot about the things that happened after she moved her stuff into her room. She remembered meeting Ms. Smith and all. But that was perfectly fine. Indeed, that was the best scenario that anyone could have thought of. If she remembered what had happened today, it would have been extremely awkward and… Kimihito didn't even want to imagine how things would have been. He was just very happy to know that things worked out that way. He wanted to thank Lala a million times for hitting her head right enough.

And he asked, no, signaled this to Mero when she came into his room when Satsuki was doing all kinds of horrible things to her, including drying his hair, applying lotion, finding the right clothes in his clothes in his closet, just so that he could look 'cool.' He was lucky that it was Mero that came in and not, well, maybe Miia. He wasn't so sure if she would have been able to get the message properly. Anyway, the next thing he secretly asked her to do was to spread this news among the girls so that none of them would talk about what has happened yesterday in front of her. He told Satsuki that she fell asleep due to fatigue right after the big moving, and he didn't want someone to accidently spoil what really happened, or even give her a chance to think elsewise. And looking by their faces, the message was pretty much spread well. He was so relieved.

But that relief only lasted until he could feel something strong suddenly coiling around his body, suffocating him. He knew that feeling.

"Miia!"

Of course it was her. She looked like she was actually shooting hearts with her eyes. "Ooh, Darling, you look so charming today!"

The compliment was nice to hear, but there was a problem that was a bit more urgent than his need of recognition. "A…ha ha… Thanks, Miia. Now, would you please let go-"

"Can't you dress like this every day? Let's go on a date! We'll go out in the city like last time and try doing…"

"Miia! Let go of him! You're making Master suffocate!"

'Nice one, Cerea!' The young man yelled within his mind. Thank goodness she yelled in time.

Finally acknowledging the harm she was unintentionally doing to him, she uncoiled herself at the speed of light. "I'm sorry, Darling! I'm really, really, sorry!"

"No, no, it's okay." He said, taking in dear breath. "I'm totally fine…"

The lamia looked at him with round, wishing eyes. "But Darling, can't we really just go on a date? It's okay if everyone else comes out with us! Although I won't be too happy about it…"

"Hey!"

She ignored Cerea and just continued on. "Really Darling, you look absolutely handsome today! I'm not saying that you didn't look handsome before, but you did look a bit like you just woke up in the morning most of time…"

Oww, that sentence hurt him a bit. "Uh, like I just woke up in the morning?"

"But anyway, you look absolutely fine! We need to do something special on a day like this! So, please?" Kimihito was finding this offer very hard to refuse, with the way she was looking at her. He looked at Cerea with a face that obviously said, 'Help me!'

Cerea coughed. "Miia, you know that Master has to go out to work today. It's a Monday."

"But…"

"Come on, Miia. You know that Honey has to go to work, so that he can pay for all of the shopping you do."

"Hey, I don't shop that much!" Miia protested. Rachnera just snorted. "Uh… Maybe I do…"

Rachnera snorted once more to salute her small victory. "Still, I must agree that Honey here looks absolutely dashing today. I didn't really believe it when Mero was talking about it. What's with the sudden change of style, Honey?"

Kimihito sighed. "It wasn't me. It was May." He pointed at his sister, who had a triumphant grin on her face. "I really didn't want to do any of this."

Rachnera looked at the girl. Her mind was still filled with the events that happened yesterday, but she was Rachnera Arachnera. She was a pro at making a poker face. She gently smiled. "That's a pretty impressive job you've done there."

Satsuki smiled right back. "Yeah, I know, right? Although I'm the one that did it, I think the job done on him was absolutely perfect. But seriously, did he never appear like this while he was with you guys?"

Rachnera shook her head. Satsuki grinned even wider. "Seriously, you need me around, bro! I can't believe you've been around with that look all that time. No worries, since from now on, I'll make sure that you prepare yourself enough in the morning!"

Kimihito looked back at the girls with a sign of 'help me' once more. This time, not even Cerea, spoke out to help. They all liked Satsuki's work, pretty much a lot. He did actually look much better than usual. His hair was well combed and dried, and seemed to have a better shine than before. All the lotion on his face made his skin look much better, and it reflected the light just perfectly. Instead of his usual t-shirt and cargo pants, he was in a dark blue oxford shirt and brown pants that he didn't even remember having. Not to mention the leather bracelet on his left wrist that had a small silver charm that finished up his look.

 _Ding Dong_

"Probably Ms. Smith again," Kimihito sighed as he rose from his chair and headed towards the door. And he was right.

"Good morning, Ms. Smith. Breakfast as usual?"

The woman looked at him with wide eyes. "Actually, No. I just stepped by to give you something. But… Are you going somewhere?"

He had to place his palm on his face. "Not anywhere unusual. It's just my sister. She made a fuss about it and swore that she would make a bigger one if I didn't follow her orders."

Ms. Smith chuckled. "Well, then you better thank her. You look fabulous! I never actually thought that you could dress up like this. For a moment I thought that you were actually cheating on them and going on a date with someone else. Did the girls see too?'

"Already did." He held up his right arm that still had faint marks of Miia's scales that were left when she was squeezing him earlier. Ms. Smith laughed at loud. "I should have expected that. But seriously, Darling-kun, you do look nice. I'm pretty sure Miia wasn't the only girl that wanted to squeeze you."

"Let's just say I was lucky that they didn't."

Smith laughed once more before she handed him something.

"What's this?"

"Your sister's host card. I would have given it to her in person, but I believe that she doesn't like me too much."

Kimihito remembered their rather unpleasant first meeting. "Oh… Maybe?"

"Just give it to her and explain how it works. You can do that for me, right?"

"Sure, but… You know, Ms. Smith, she isn't that bad. I'm pretty sure she was just taken aback because you were being too doubtful about her. She won't hate you for that."

Smith made a face. "You really think so, Darling-kun?" She lowered her sunglasses for a moment. Kimihito could see the gleam in her eyes that he could see only when she was being professional or critical, which wasn't exactly every day. "I've been working around people for quite a while. I know it when people like me. I know when they don't. And I know when they really don't like me. I think that for whatever reason, your sister is the third case."

Kimihito tried to say something, but couldn't. Somehow he had a feeling that she was right.

Smith shrugged. "Not that I can't understand her, though. I guess she does have a reason for not liking me. But anyway, give that to her, okay?"

"Sure, Ms. Smith. You sure you don't want to eat breakfast?"

She chuckled. "I would love to, but I've got some work to do today. Thanks for the offer, Darling-kun. I'll see you again soon." She turned back and walked away.

"What's taking so long, Master?" Kimihito could hear Cerea yelling from the kitchen.

"Going!" He yelled back, as he walked swiftly towards the kitchen. When he arrived, the first thing he did was to hand Satsuki the card. "Here."

"What's this? 'This card verifies that the holder is a rightful host of the interspecies exchange program' Oh… so this is my host card?"

"Yup. Ms. Smith stopped by and handed it over. How'd you know?" He sat down on an empty chair before he continued. He wasn't really expecting an answer for his question. He was used to Satsuki knowing about all kinds of things.

Besides, the the cultural-exchange-whatsoever-bill was signed before she disappeared. He remembered her looking closely at all of the laws related to it, finding it quite interesting. "As long as you're holding that, you can go out with the girls outside the house. Make sure not to lose it."

"Sure," she said as she put the card in the pocket of her jeans. "Can I use it right away?"

"I'm pretty sure you can. Why? You want to go outside?"

She nodded. "It's been a while since I've been home. I think I'll have to go outside and see how things have changed. Not to mention that I have to go grocery shopping and shop for some other stuff too."

"If that's what you say."

"Satsuki, may I go with you?" asked the mermaid. She was anxious to leave the house for a change.

She beamed. "Of course! Actually, there's something I need your help in. I was wishing you would want to come."

Mero tilted her head. "My help? Do you need swimming lessons?"

The adolescent grinned. "You'll find out. Anyone else want to come along?"

"Geez… I really want to go. But I have to go to the shrine today. I can't afford losing the job, after all the trouble I went through trying to get it." Miia said. She didn't look too happy about it. After all, it was a great chance for her to get closer to Satsuki, and maybe get some hints about her darling. She was sorry to just let it go.

"I'm not going. I don't like leaving the house at daytime. I'll just stay here." Rachnera yawned. She was probably just too lazy to leave the house.

"Ooh! Ooh! Papi wants to go!"

"Suu wants to go too!"

Rachnera sighed. "I think you two should stay inside."

"Why?" The two voices chirped in unison.

"Didn't you two say that there was a record you had to beat on Wii tennis?"

"Oh yeah, we have to do that!"

"Have to do that!"

Rachnera swiftly moved next to Satsuki, so fast that Satsuki couldn't even see her moving. Rachnera whispered in her ear, 'Believe me, you better go without them. They'll make a mess wherever they go.' Satsuki nodded. She decided to accept her advice without saying anything. She could just feel that she wasn't joking around.

"My lady, if she gives me her permission, then I shall gladly accompany her!" There was only one person that would talk like that.

"You're in, Centorea. And please stop using those honorifics."

"Please, call me Cerea!"

"Cerea," Satsuki corrected. "Where's Lala?"

"Who knows? No one really knows her whereabouts until she appears in front of us. But there's nothing to worry, my lady. That always happens."

Satsuki nodded. She looked at her brother. "Okay, then. I'll be leaving with Mero and Cento-, no, Cerea a bit later in the morning."

Kimihito looked surprised. "Since when did you report before doing something?"

The young girl grinned. "Just to make things sure. Boy, you'll love to see what we bring back from our shopping trip!"

Kimihito was starting to get worried. "Umm… do you even have the money?"

Satsuki put on a sly smile on her face as she picked out a credit card from her other pocket.

'What the?' Kimihito thought to himself. "When did you get that? I mean, how did you even know where that was? That card was not in an open space!"

The sly smile changed into a smug one. "You really think you can outwit me, Kimi? You didn't change any of your habits during those two years. I know where you usually put your things and how you organize stuff. I wouldn't be Satsuki Kurusu if I didn't!"

Kimihito sighed. He'll never win her, will he? "Just remember to get the receipts after you pay for the groceries. And please don't buy too much with that card. We don't have much on our budget."

Satsuki didn't answer. Instead, she just made an evil grin. Kimihito could feel a chill travelling down his spine. He had no idea what his sister would do with that card, and whatever she was planning to do, he was starting to fear it.


	19. Chapter 19

About an hour later, the three girls came outside the house. Mero was in her wheelchair, which was being pushed by Satsuki. Centorea was walking at their right. There weren't a lot of people in the streets, with the time being around 10 AM on a Monday, but the few people that were passing by never failed to stare at the three. Their reactions were slightly different, but it was pretty obvious that none of them found the combination quite amiable.

Centorea was doing her best to not frown or show disgust. She didn't like what she was facing, but to be honest, she was pretty used to it. It wasn't too difficult to fake her facial expressions.

But the bigger reason behind that poker face was in the human girl walking next to her. Centorea wasn't too sure how she was supposed to act towards her. She knew that her Master wanted her to treat her as if nothing happened yesterday. But that was nothing easy. Every time she glanced at her, she couldn't help but remember what she went through yesterday. The feeling of waster starting to overwhelm her, the cuts that she accidently re-opened, and of course, the shocking story she heard, all came into her mind at once. It wasn't anything easy to treat her just as her Master's younger sister now.

"Is there something on my face, Cerea?"

Oh dear, she noticed.

"No…Nothing, my lady! Please, forgive my insolence!"

Anyone could see that it certainly wasn't 'nothing'. The centaur did a horrible job on delivering that. Satsuki wasn't insensitive enough to not notice that, and neither was Mero. Mero prayed that Centorea wouldn't spill the beans.

Satsuki moved her eyebrows. "It doesn't seem like a nothing. Do I look weird today? Is there anything wrong about me? You can be honest with me, Cerea."

'Think, Cerea, think!'

"Uh… no, actually, my lady, I was just thinking that you look a bit… different from Master, although the two of you are siblings!"

Mero wanted to yell at the centaur. Although she didn't usually yell at people, she wanted to make this case an exception and just scream at her. What on Earth was she thinking of, saying something like that? They weren't supposed to know that she was an adopted child, and although what Centorea said didn't exactly show that they knew it, it obviously could lead to it. And it was certainly not nice and polite to say that to someone when you already know that they do not share blood with their sibling, regardless the circumstances.

Satsuki paused for a very short second. The pause was very short, and Satsuki soon resumed her walking activity. But Centorea could see the changes that were appearing on her face during that short second. But she couldn't really understand it. Her reaction was similar to the reaction of 'Oh, here we go again', and not 'Oh my, does she know that I'm an adopted child?'

How was she supposed to understand that?

"I guess that's what everyone says about me. Before I left, the townspeople that I met often always told me that." The girl looked directly into the centaur's blue eyes. "They also told me that I looked a bit 'different' in a 'different' way. Like as if I'm not normal, and somehow just weird. Do you think I look like that, too?"

Centorea almost said 'Yes'. She couldn't deny that the townspeople were quite right about that. The more that she looked at the skinny girl, the more she thought that she looked somehow exotic, and in a way, quite alien, somehow very different from any other girl of her age. It wasn't like she was exceptionally beautiful or the exact opposite; she was just somehow different, and her instincts were telling her that every time she looked at her face.

Maybe it was because she found out that she was a mixed blood. No, she thought, I had that feeling even before I knew about that.

But would it be right to say that to a young girl who was obviously not too happy about her abnormal secrets of birth? She didn't seem too happy yesterday when she was presenting that she was a hybrid. And what did Lala and Mero call her kind yesterday? 'Variants, Mutants, Mutations, The Cursed Ones'

No. she would not say that.

"Oh no, my lady! Not at all! Well, you do not resemble Master too much, but I've witnessed human siblings that share fewer things in common. And why would they say that? My lady, you look perfectly fine!"

Mero sighed in relief.

Satsuki didn't seem too convinced. But she returned back to her usual grin and just walked on towards the market. Centorea hoped that she didn't say anything terribly wrong.

* * *

"Hello! Do you recognize me?"

The owner of the vegetable store looked at Satsuki for a few seconds. She then blinked.

"Satsuki? Is that you?"

Satsuki grinned back. Mero and Centorea were starting to realize that the adolescent had this way of grinning. Her grin was like an upgraded version of Kimihito's indulgent smile. Was it even possible to have that particular facial expression in common even when they aren't actual siblings?

"Yup, you got it. It's been a while, huh?"

The owner looked at her again closely, as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Really? Is it really you?"

"Mrs. Yamada, can't you believe what's in front of you?"

The two liminals were very surprised when the shop owner caught Satsuki in a sudden hug. What's more, the old woman was even starting to cry.

"Satsuki, my dear, you shouldn't just disappear like that! We all thought that you were kidnapped or something! Oh, do you have any idea how worried we were? Some people believed that you died!"

The teenager grinned. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Yamada. I swear I didn't want to leave like that. There wasn't anything I could do about it."

The shop owner, Mrs. Yamada, was now clearly crying. Tears were starting to flow down her face. "Oh, you should have seen your brother! He's been running around the neighborhood for a few months, trying to find you."

"I know he would have, Mrs. Yamada. I know."

Centorea and Mero were starting to feel extremely awkward. But at the same time, they were gaining more information about their host's sister and her sudden disappearance. So she left very suddenly. She knew a lot of people in town. And Kimihito spent a very long time in the streets, trying to find her.

Mrs. Yamada separated Satsuki from herself, and placed a hand on her face and looked into her face carefully. She looked at her with caring eyes, like a mother.

"No, that means nothing! At least now you're back!" She turned to face the big street of the market. "Everyone! Come over here! Satsuki is back!"

The next hour or so went in a blur.

Centorea and Mero weren't expecting all of the shop owners of the marketplace to suddenly sprint towards them, totally abandoning their posts. It was like a stampede. None of them seemed to really care about leaving their stores empty. They all just started to gather around them, or to be exact, Satsuki, and started to cry and hug and ask a dozen questions. They were lucky that the people weren't even the least bit interested in them.

While it was hard to process all of the conversation going around, they could pick up a few facts. Satsuki came to the marketplace to get her house's basic supplies for a very long time, since she was very young. None of the people in the marketplace really remembered her parents, or rather, her 'new parents' coming with her. They only remembered her coming with her brother when she was very young, and was coming to this place for the first couple of times. Ever since then, she came alone to get the stuff she needed.

That was pretty impressive, but another thought hit the two. What happened to her parents? Her new ones, the meant; they weren't even expecting to get to know about her biological parents. The store owners recall her coming to their store alone when she was only about 6. What kind of parents would be irresponsible enough to let a girl that young to come all the way out here by herself, regardless of her intelligence?

Another thing they found out was that she was a very nice girl. It seemed like she played with their children often, and often got them a small present on their birthdays, which they had no idea how she knew, or even how she remembered all of those birthdays. She would often just stop by to chat, and she was a good talker, the kind that everyone just wants to talk with, even though she was very young. She was 'very bright and understanding', as someone said. It seemed like she is usually in her good mood that she was showing today, rather than bad. Or is it just that those 2 years changed her personality?

And one more: She didn't change. Her appearance hasn't changed from the last time the shop owners have seen them. Well, it seems like her hair has grown a bit longer, and her skin got a little darker, but her basic appearance, her eyes and nose and all that, hasn't changed a bit. Even her height was exactly the same. Was that normal? She said that she was 16. Don't teenage girls change a lot when they're around 14 or 15? Or does human growth and development work differently from liminals? They weren't too sure if she was a special case, or if that was the case for every human female.

When the poor girl was finally released from that horde of people, her hair was a mess. So many people had touched her hair, patted it, and rummaged it, that it would have been a miracle if it somehow was still in normal shape. And she was left with all kinds of groceries: fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, fish… There was so many heaps of food around her that it looked like she was being cornered by food. She refused, of course, but the only thing she got in return was, "Oh, take it as a welcoming present! Besides, your house has a lot of mouths to feed now!" Even Satsuki couldn't find a way to refute that.

"Uh… Satsuki, are you okay?"

Satsuki tried to organize her hair with her hand. It obviously wasn't working so well. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Gosh, I wonder how we're going to carry all of this. All this will be quite a handful." She sighed, but her lips were smiling. "I really wasn't expecting that."

Mero and Centorea went closer to her and helped her organize her hair. "My lady, I should say that… uh… that was…"

"I know, I know. Those people are quite enthusiastic, aren't they?" She laughed. She quickly flicked her hair twice when her hair seemed about okay. "Sorry for keeping you two waiting for so long. I really, really wasn't expecting that to take this long."

"No need to apologize," Mero replied, gently smiling. She just couldn't help but to smile. The overly warm welcoming of the shop owners, the smile that broke out on a young girl's face… Everything was just so happy and bright. Who couldn't smile? Even she, the tragedy maniac, or rather, the former tragedy maniac, was smiling.

* * *

"My lady, why are we here?"

It seemed like a proper question. People don't usually go to a department store after they swept through a market. They especially don't go there when you and the ones that are walking with you don't have any free arms due to a huge amount of groceries in their hands.

Satsuki grinned in a way those old men grinned in western movies. "Oh, you'll see, you'll see. We had to come here."

Mero tilted her head. "With our hands full of groceries?"

Satsuki pointed to a direction. In the direction, there was a giant reception desk and a lot of shelves behind it. Two women were moving swiftly, carrying all kinds of different stuff in their hands.

"Oh, I didn't know that there were places where they keep your stuff."

"I wasn't so sure either," Satsuki shrugged. "I was just hoping that this part of the department store didn't change throughout those 2 years. Now, let's go give them our stuff so that we can go shopping."

"Is this for free, my lady?"

"Apparently not. But I have enough money to cover this." She picked out a small wallet from her pocket. She grinned as she put it back in and started to move the groceries towards the desk. After a short talk with the lady, she signaled the other two to bring over the things that they were holding, and soon enough, they were no longer confined by the heavy groceries.

"Where do we go now, my lady?"

"Good question." Satsuki then suddenly turned over to Mero. She suddenly grabbed her two hands with her own, and looked at her with pleading eyes.

Mero blinked. "Satsuki? What…What's this for?"

Satsuki took in a deep breath before she spoke again.

"Please, Mero, just this once, lend me some money!"


	20. Chapter 20

Mero was startled. That really wasn't what she was expecting. "Money? Is there anything you need to buy?"

Satsuki nodded. "Yes. There's something that I really, really need to buy. But I just don't have enough for that." She looked at the mermaid with innocent puppy eyes. "I'm really sorry! I know I sound insolent, and I know that I'm misbehaving, but I really didn't have any other option. I'm trying to buy something really expensive. I mean 'really'. I can't use Kimi's card on this. Please, Mero? Pretty please? I'll repay you somehow!" Up to this point, it was the most childish side of Satsuki that the two have witnessed.

Centorea wasn't too sure what she should do. It was usually kind of her duty to stop people from showing insolent attitude towards the mermaid princess. But at the same time, it was also her duty to defend her master's younger sister as well. And well… Although she was old enough to know that requests like these were better left declined, there was something about Satsuki that stopped her from encouraging Mero to ignore it. It was hard to explain, but there was just this something that made it extremely hard for her to just decide that it was an immature request.

Mero thought for a bit. She didn't ponder long until she replied, "How much is it? Is it over a million yen?"

"No, I'm pretty sure it isn't. I'm pretty sure it's less than that."

"Mero!"

Mero held a hand and stopped Centorea from talking further. It was one of those times that she gave out the royal aura. "What are you trying to buy, anyway?"

Satsuki slightly smiled. She knew that she was very close to success. "Follow me. I'll show you." She rushed off, going way ahead of her. Anyone that saw her movements could notice that she was in a very good mood, like a kid that was rushing off to pick a Christmas present.

While Centorea pushed Mero's wheelchair to chase her, she quietly asked, "Are you sure?"

Mero nodded. "Dear Sir has done me many favors. I believe that I could do this favor for his sister in return."

"But it seems like she is trying to buy something really expensive. Are you okay with that?"

Mero slightly smiled. Although Centorea couldn't see it, she was able to notice that she was, through her voice. "I'm a princess, Centorea-sama. Although I prefer not using it, my mother has given me more than enough money to spend."

"But how did she know that? Out of all of the choices she could make, she chose you to come with her. She must have known that you were a princess. Did you tell her?"

Mero couldn't answer to that. Thinking about it, Satsuki knew that she was a princess even when they first met. How did she know that?

* * *

After about 5 or 10 minutes, Centorea started to wonder if Satsuki was going in the right direction. "Uh.. are you sure we're going in the right direction, my lady?"

"Yup."

"Uh… Are you sure, my lady? We're in the floor where they're selling men's clothing. And not just clothing, suits!"

Satsuki smirked. "It's exactly what I'm trying to buy."

"Huh?"

Mero looked backwards to meet eyes with Centorea. Why would she want to buy a suit? It didn't take more than a few seconds for the two to get to a conclusion: she was trying to buy one for her brother.

"May I help you?" A lady that seemed like she was in her mid-twenties stepped up towards Satsuki. It wasn't until then that the two realized that the people around them, the people that were keeping the tailor shop, were looking at them strangely. The combination of two liminals and a young human itself was quite unusual, and the fact that all three of them were females helped make the group seem like they were lost.

"Yes. How much would a whole suit set cost?"

The lady's eyes widened. "You mean a whole set? You do know that this floor sells suits for men only, right?"

"I'm buying it for my older brother."

The lady slightly smiled. It was hard to tell if she was genuinely smiling, or thinking that the young girl in front of her didn't know what she was talking about. "But I don't see a gentleman in front of me. Do you know his size?"

Satsuki pulled out a folded piece of paper from her pocket. "Absolutely."

The process went on smoothly as it could from there on. Satsuki picked out the designs for each piece: a two-button, black suit jacket, a pair of dress slacks of the same color, a black belt, a white dress shirt, and leather dress shoes. She was lucky that the lady that came up to her was working for the biggest store on the floor that sold pretty much every design of a suit she could think of. She had a large variety to choose from. But in the end, she wasn't too sure if that helped anything at all, since she bought the most basic design of a suit, the design that anyone could picture easily.

While Satsuki was busy doing that, Mero and Centorea were caught up in their own imaginations. Every time Satsuki picked up a different design of a jacket or something, they pictured Kimihito in them. A black jacket and a white dress shirt, a navy jacket and a white dress shirt, a navy jacket with a light blue dress shirt… Everything just seemed like it would suit him perfectly. The whole time was 'a non-stop blushing time' for the two. The people that were passing by looked at them as if they were a bit crazy, but they weren't able to notice them.

Satsuki didn't miss it either. She didn't say anything out loud. She just looked at them with serious eyes that looked quite scary. If Centorea and Mero saw those eyes, they would have thought 'uh-oh'. But before they could notice it, Satsuki turned back and checked if she was buying the right sizes. It wasn't until it was time to pay for everything that she turned back to the two, and this time she was in her usual grin.

"Princess Meroune de Lorelei," she sang, as she posed like she was doing a bow, "will you grant your humble servant the permission to use your card?"

"Huh? Use it, use it!" She still wasn't fully out of her imagination when she said that as she handed Satsuki a black card. Both her and Centorea weren't in their right minds until they went down to the first floor and got their groceries back.

"Thanks again for letting me use the money, Mero," Satsuki said, as she gave Mero her card back, along with a receipt. "I'll repay it somehow. I promise."

"Huh? You don't have to! You should have told me from the start if you were buying a suit for Dear Sir. I would have been more than happy to pay for it."

Satsuki slightly laughed. "I'm pretty sure you would have. But I don't think Kimi would be too happy to hear that you spent that much money for him. I'll somehow convince him that I bought this with my own money, so please don't tell that you payed for it, okay?"

After saying that, she walked ahead of Mero and Centorea so that she would maintain about a meter of 2 of a distance from them. She didn't want them to see the face she was making.

* * *

"Come on out, everyone! Lunch's ready!"

'Lunch' was the magic word to get everyone out of their rooms, or in Suu and Papi's case, away from the Wii. When they all arrived, they were greeted with enough food to open a banquet. There was a giant bowl filled up with salad, a few plates with fish, cooked in all kinds of different ways, plates and plates filled with all kinds of meats, two stews that the liminals had no idea what was in them but nevertheless smelled and looked wonderful, and of course, bowls of rice.

Papi jumped around jubilantly, and Suu followed her example. "Yay, food!" they squealed.

Mero looked at Satsuki with respect. "You made all this?"

She grinned. "Of course. It could taste a bit… what should I say, lacking than what Kimi cooks up for you guys, but I'm pretty sure it's edible. And I'm pretty sure it's enough for everyone. Although, to be honest, I'm not too confident."

Rachnera sighed. "You're talking nonsense. How much time did you take? An hour? And you made all this. You should give some credit to yourself. Seriously, we're used to eating the stuff that Miia made."

Satsuki scratched her head. "Uh, that's actually an hour and 40 minutes, to be exact…"

"Can Papi eat?"

"Eat, eat!" chirped Suu.

"Oh, sure, sure! Everyone dig in!"

"I-ta-daki-masu!" the girls spoke out in unison, and within a flash, many forks and chopsticks and spoons were finding its targets. The girls all put something in their mouths at about the same moment.

And 1 second… 2 seconds… 3 seconds…

"How is it? Is it okay?"

Instead of answering to Satsuki's question, the girls around the table all shifted their body positions to face the adolescent.

The nervous teenager started to stumble. "Huh? Wh-what?" Was her food that terrible? Did her travelling and all the starving somehow degenerate her cooking skills?

"Satsuki."

"Y-yes?"

Mero, who happened to be sitting right next to her, placed her webbed hand onto the young girl's shoulder.

"I beg you, no, we beg you. Please, give Miia some cooking lessons."

That was not what Satsuki was expecting to hear.

"Ehh… What?"

"In other words, it tastes excellent! How did you manage to cook all of this during that short time and make it taste good, too? The fish was cooked just right, and the sauce on top of it is spectacular!"

"The salad is great too, my lady!"

"Meat is delicious!"

"Delicious, delicious!"

"The scent and taste of the stew will be enough to bring the dead back to life for a moment."

Satsuki sighed in relief. "Oh, that's nice to hear. For a second, I thought that maybe it tasted too horrible that… No, I'm not even going to talk about that. It's great to know that you guys all like what I made."

Without even replying to what she said, the other girls rushed back to the food. They all ate with gusto. Satsuki smirked once before she also started to devour the things that she made. Not perfect, but not too bad, she thought to herself.

* * *

After the big lunch, the girls all helped Satsuki clean up. Some of them brought the empty dishes to the sink, and some of them put the leftover groceries back in the refrigerator. Suu helped clean the kitchen floor.

"I can't believe we ate all of this," Rachnera mumbled, as she brought four more dishes to the sink. "Just how much did we eat?"

"Lots," Satsuki replied, as she received the dishes and added it to the tower of dishes on her right, the dishes that she will soon wash after she washed the ones in her left. "But don't worry too much about eating too much or going on a diet or anything like that. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm pretty sure I ate at least one fifths of it."

Rachnera wasn't too sure how she was supposed to understand how a small human could eat even more than herself and still look like she's been starving for days, but she just forgot about it and moved onto another topic. "Thanks for the meal, by the way. I wasn't joking there when I said that we were used to eating what Miia made up. Honey is caring and is a good host and all, but even he can't prepare our lunch before he leaves for work, with all the stuff he has to do. Honestly, preparing breakfast for everyone and cleaning after that takes most of his time. Somehow Miia thought that she could manage to make something for us to eat," she sighed shortly before she continued. "But she's a lamia. Do you know how horrible they are at cooking?"

Satsuki just laughed. She knew what Rachnera was talking about.

"Do you need any more help? I could help you with the dishes."

"Nah," Satsuki replied. "Thanks for the offer, and I really appreciate it, but I just prefer doing these kinds of stuff alone. You can go and enjoy your time. I'm your host family, after all. Isn't it my job to do these kinds of stuff for you guys?"

"I'm not so sure. It became normal in this house, but I'm not so sure it's the same for any other exchange student."

"I'm pretty sure it is. Go along. Take a nap, make some clothes with your silk… I don't, know, just go do something more interesting than watching me do the dishes." She playfully nudged the Arachne away. When Rachnera decided that she wouldn't be able to change the workaholic's mind (thinking about it, Honey was quite a workaholic too. Those two are quite similar in some ways, despite that they're not related in blood, she thought) and turned around, she found herself facing Centorea. The two biggest liminals in the Kurusu household exchanged glances. Although they weren't saying anything out loud, they could understand what the other was trying to say with only their facial expressions, a bit of mouthing, and a few gestures.

'How are you talking so naturally with her?'

'What do you mean?'

'You remember what happened just yesterday?'

Rachnera thought about it. Sure, she remembered clearly. She nodded.

'And you could be so natural? Have a conversation like nothing has happened?'

Rachnera took some time to think about that. When she finished her thinking, she walked forward towards Centorea, or to be exact, towards the space right next to her, so that she would be able to whisper in her ear. But she walked fast enough for anyone that wasn't an arachne to think that she was teleporting.

"Things will get complicated if you aren't natural around her. Sometimes, lying does help."

When Rachnera disappeared after saying that, Centorea looked in the direction she left. Did she just hear Rachnera say it herself that lying does help? Wasn't she the one that hated liars and hypocrites the most?

* * *

A/N:

Happy New Year, everyone!


	21. Chapter 21

Smith was running. And she couldn't even recall properly why she was. She usually doesn't play around when she was in a middle of a plan like this one, but there were just so many things happening at once; she was starting to lose track of the events that had happened.

So she remembered that she and the M.O.N crew were cornering some liminals that were trespassing the country without permit. Then the liminals-5 of them, to be exact, suddenly all started to escape at such speed, that even Manako couldn't shoot one properly. It was as if they were expecting them to corner them, and had a plan to get out of it. Anyways, they ran away from their reach. And she remembered trying to chase them…

And now she was here, in the middle of Kii's forest. Although she came to this forest every once in a while to check on Kii, she never came in this deep. Any signs of human civilization were nowhere to be found. The only things she could see were trees, rocks, grass, and maybe some bugs.

In other words, she got lost.

"Ugh, where did they go?" she murmured, as she looked around her, trying to find something else than just plants and rocks. But not even an animal was in sight.

Now that was a problem.

Losing the trespassers was something that she would have to worry a bit later. She was helplessly lost. She took out her phone from her pocket, hoping that it will be able to give her some help. A map, or maybe even a call, would help. But it turned out that both options weren't available. The internet wasn't working, and she couldn't even call anyone, either. She was in an area that was off-service.

"Shit," she breathed to herself. How could she get stuck in the middle of the woods, at this timing? She was in the middle of a mission. And her teammates needed her. Well, of course they could do all the physical stuff without her, but she needed to be there to do the ordering and get the approvals whenever they wanted to do anything.

It was already turning a bit dark. Places like these would get darker sooner than the city. If she couldn't get out of this place quick, then she wouldn't be able to move for a while. And it didn't seem like she would be able to find a way out anytime soon.

She stopped running, and caught her breath as she started to think. What would she have to do? She was running out of strength, and she has no help to expect. And she is in the middle of nowhere. Should she be looking for a cave to spend the night? Should she be trying to make fire? Unable to get to a conclusion, she just walked on. Her legs were getting numb, but she didn't have any other choice. Stopping and making a fire or a camp wasn't anything that she was confident in doing.

Dammit, she thought. Maybe she should have taken some cooking-and-crafting lessons from Kimihito. If he was in this situation, he would have already made himself a hut by now. She cursed herself for getting in this situation and not having the skill to get out of it.

So she just started to walk. As she walked on, she tried to think of something, anything, to be exact. She was running out of energy, and she could barely move her legs forward. She spent enough energy when she was cornering those liminals during the mission. She felt like she could faint of fatigue any moment now. But she knew that she couldn't. She couldn't just collapse here; she'll definitely die, unless someone found her. She let her thoughts go wild and land on any random topic: her messy room, the paperwork she had to do, and the girls that were dwelling in Kimihito Kurusu's house.

But as time went, even that started to become difficult. She was feeling dizzy. And she could feel her footsteps getting slower. She was at her limit.

When her feet hit a rock, her body had enough. She could feel the last bit of strength leave her systems as she slowly leaned-no, fell towards the ground. She could feel every moment of it, but she could do nothing about it. She just couldn't put in any strength in her limbs. She just felt herself slowly fall towards the green-whatever it was. She expected her face to crash into the ground any minute now.

But it didn't.

She felt something-or someone catch her in midair. And she could hear a voice. It was a low, smooth, yet strong voice that would have caught anyone's attention as soon as they heard it. At least, it was a voice that caught her attention.

"Young lady, are you okay?"

She turned her head to see what, or who, had caught her. Every single act was an effort, but she managed to turn it enough so that she could see who has caught her.

It was a person. Although she wasn't in her right mind enough to identify each detail, she could easily make out that it was a very tall, quite muscular man. At least he seemed like it. She couldn't see any tails, scales, or wings. But she couldn't see his face yet. She had to turn her head a little more.

"Young lady?"

She turned her head to see his face, and ended up succeeding making her eyes meet his. When she did, she gasped. It wasn't a reaction that she could control. It just came out automatically.

And that was the last thing she did before she totally became unconscious and fainted in his arms.

* * *

"Manako, you see anything?"

A buzz returned to her walkie-talkie. "No, Zombina-chan. I can't see her anywhere."

Zombina threw the walkie-talkie at the ground. "Ugh! Where on Earth is she? I knew that we should have made sure that she got her walkie-talkie with her!"

"Come on, Zombina-chan," said Tionishia, as she approached closer to her. "She'll be fine."

"I know she'll be fine! I'll kill her if she isn't! I-"

Her ranting was stopped by a sudden buzzing in her walkie-talkie.

"Zombina-chan! Tionishia! I can see her coming towards the city from the forest!"

Zombina dropped the gun that was in her hand. "What! You sure, Manako?"

"Yes, the M.O.N. outfit is always recognizable! Wait, wait a minute… She's not walking by herself. She's being carried by someone!"

Zombina growled. "Where is she!"

"Go straight north from where you are. I'll tell you if they move to any other direction!"

"Got it!" Zombina sprinted, totally forgetting about the gun she just abandoned.

"Zombina-chan! Wait for me!"

Zombina didn't have time to wait for Tio. As strong as she could be, she was quite slow, compared to her, and today wasn't any day for her to wait for that. She rushed northwards for quite a while.

"Manako! Any changes?"

"No! You'll be able to see them any moment now!"

Manako was saying the absolute truth. When Zombina looked ahead, she could see her. Or to be exact, she could see her outfit. Yes, that yellow M.O.N. battle gear is always recognizable.

And it was even more recognizable when the person wearing it was being held by someone else.

"You there! Stop! Stay where you are, and don't move!"

The one carrying Smith looked back at Zombina. Although she could see Smith's outfit, that didn't mean that she was in a close distance with Smith and the one carrying her. She couldn't see the face that the person was making. Or at least, she thought it was a person. She couldn't see any horns, tails, or wings, so she guessed that it was a human. She approached closer to them, feeling for her gun, trying to take it out and aim it at the person, when she figured out that she left it lying on the floor somewhere.

Damn it. She cursed more in her mind. How will she threaten the human now? Her legs kept on moving forwards, but she herself wasn't so sure if she was doing the right thing. What if he wished to harm her? What if he was the one that made Smith faint?

She had many concerns in her head as she approached them. But the closer she got, the more they disappeared. Or to be exact, the clearer the human's face became, the blanker her mind became.

How should she describe it? How could she describe him? Well, he was tall. Very tall for a human, she should say. He seemed like he was at least 190cm tall. That wasn't a height that could be normally seen around the humans of Japan. And judging by his overall features and black hair, he didn't seem like he was from anywhere else than eastern Asia. But did he look like he was a case of acromegaly? No. Every part of his body was perfectly proportionate. Standing there alone, it didn't seem like his limbs were unnaturally long or something. They seemed just fine.

Too fine.

Zombina has lived longer than most of her co-workers, if she could say that she is 'living' right now. She's seen all kinds of people. She's seen all kinds of extraspecies as well. That means that she has seen a lot of good-looking men, too. Some were charming, and some were gorgeous.

This guy was just breathtaking.

It wasn't just his face that made her think like that. Sure, his face was a masterpiece. She could swear that she has seen no one better looking than him during the time her eyes were open. But there was just something, this kind of vibe that was coming from his whole body that made her brain go numb.

"You are related to this young lady, am I right?" asked the man. Wow, even his voice was enchanting.

"Huh? Uh… yeah…" She felt like an idiot, but she couldn't start of finish her sentence properly.

"Would you please take care of her from now on? I found her in the forest. She looked very tired even before she fainted. I believe that she overworked her body too much."

"Uh… Sure…" She approached closer, only that now, she wasn't approaching to threaten him or something. Some part of her still-sane brain was ordering her to walk forward so that she could get Smith from his hands, but the more primitive side of her was forcing her to do so, just so that she could get closer to him.

When she did get close to him enough so that she could touch him, she reached out her arms so that she could. The man slightly smiled.

Zombina thought that her heart, which has already stopped beating many years ago, was beating again. She didn't even notice it when he moved Smith from his harms into hers.

"Tell her to be careful when she comes into the woods that deeply, okay?"

She couldn't even answer. She just nodded.

The man seemed to have noticed this. He smiled again. This smile was a bit wider than the last one. But it had a different effect. The… glamorous vibe, the almost unreal presence has suddenly vanished, as if she was brought to reality from a fantasy dream world. But it wasn't like his appearance changed or something. He was beautiful as always, but something was totally different.

"I'm sorry. That was a bit disturbing, wasn't it?"

Zombina was startled. "What just happened?"

He smirked. "Just think that nothing happened. It would be easier to understand that way." He then turned around, and started to walk away.

"Wait!" He stopped in his place. "I… Um… I think I forgot to say this. Thank you for saving our boss!"

"Nothing to be thankful about. I just did what I had to do." He continued to walk on. His strides were wider than a normal human's, since the speed he was disappearing was very, very fast, when you consider that he was just walking and not running.

"Hey! What's your name!" Zombina yelled at him, wishing that she had a name to tell Smith when she wakes up.

The man paused again. He took some time to answer. "Riku. The name's Riku."

As soon as he said that, he moved very swiftly, as if he wanted to avoid any more questions. In a few seconds, he was in the forest and out of sight.


	22. Chapter 22

"I'm home!"

At that voice, 7 figures rushed towards the door. They rushed with such speed and vigor, that anyone watching would find it strange that no one would step on the other's tail or hoof or something and fall. But the ones moving right now did this every day. They just learned how to rush and not collide into each other in the process.

"Welcome home!" said 7 voices in unison, although the noun they added to the end was all different.

"Hey there, everyone. Anything special happened today?"

Papi was the first one to answer. "Papi broke the record in Wii tennis!"

"Suu, too!"

"Well, isn't that good for you two!" Kimihito said, as he patted their heads. He was extra careful to make sure that his hand doesn't get absorbed in Suu's body.

He then looked towards the others. "How about the rest of you? Anything special? Oh yeah, how was the shopping trip today?"

Before Centorea or Meroune could answer, someone else joined the talk. "Absolutely fine, bro."

"May!" Yes, it was her. She was wearing an apron and had her arms crossed. "Don't tell me you've been preparing dinner, too! You've already prepared breakfast _and_ lunch. It's my turn to-"

"No protests, bro." Satsuki cut through his speech.

"But-"

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously bro, you work all day why I do nothing in particular in the house. I'd say that this is the way things should be done." She then suddenly changed the mood of her voice. "Now, let's talk about that shopping trip, shall we?"

"Fine, then," replied Kimihito. He thought to himself that he will never win against his sister. He just couldn't think of a way to talk back. "What did you buy?"

"The ingredients I'm using to cook dinner."

"That's all?"

Mero tried to reply to that, but Satsuki was faster. "No, that's not all. But that's all I'm going to tell you right now." She then grinned. "Let's talk about the rest after we have dinner, shall we? Dinner's ready. It's your favorite dish, by the way."

Kimihito beamed. The 7 extraspecies thought that they've never seen him beam like that ever before.

* * *

"Thanks for the meal!" Kimihito said, as he patted on his full stomach. "It's been a while since I had this. Thanks again, May."

"Seems like your food preference didn't change at all, Kimi. Why do you love those noodles anyway?"

Kimihito held his index finger up, as if he was starting to clarify a point. "There's nothing wrong with liking something. Besides, it's just good, and it's especially better when you are the one that cooked it."

Satsuki grinned. "Glad you liked it." She looked at the others. "Was the food okay?"

"Absolutely!"

"Perfect!"

And there were some other answers, but they all came out at the same time that it was impossible to find out what each of them were.

"Uh, I'll take that as a yes. Now," She faced back at Kimihito. "Let's talk about that shopping trip, all right?"

She rose from her seat and walked outside the kitchen. Kimihito, dumbfounded and slightly scared of what she might bring in, looked at Centorea and Mero. "What is she bringing?"

"No spoiling!"

"She had some good ears," murmured Miia.

Kimihito sighed. In a blink of an eye, Satsuki brought back a huge shopping bag that was apparently, even bigger than her torso and her head altogether. And it seemed a bit heavy too, but no one doubted that it wouldn't be too much of a deal for that superhuman being.

She made a quite stern look on her face as she handed the shopping bag to Kimihito. "Take a look at it," she ordered. Kimihito knew better than to disobey. He put a hand into the shopping bag and brought out a black suit jacket. He looked back at Satsuki with eyes filled with horror.

"Satsuki, are you serious? This would cost-"

Without even listening to the rest of the sentence, she shot back, "I bought this with some money that was left behind my room, so don't you worry about that."

"You're joking! You'll never have this much-"

"It turns out that I did. Now, let's get over that talk." She placed her palms on the kitchen table. She wasn't exactly hitting it, so it didn't make any big sounds, but the way she did it just gave out a very intimidating vibe.

"Kimi. It's about time you look for a job."

It took Kimihito a few seconds to fully grasp the situation and what she said, or at least gather himself enough to. "Wh-what?"

"I said, it's about time you look for a job. You're not going to have a part-time job for the rest of your life, aren't you? You need a nice, stable job where you can get enough income. Usually people in your age are in college, so that excuses them from getting a job, but you're not a college student. Use these clothes. Take a job interview."

Kimihito looked as if he wanted to say something about that, but he bit his lip and didn't say it. Instead, a few seconds later, he asked, "But can I even find a place that would hire me? I don't have a college degree, after all."

Satsuki set a smug smile on her face. "Of course there is. I even listed them." She took something that looked like folded paper from her pocket and handed it over to her brother. "Take a look, okay?"

"Fine, I'll try contacting one of them after this week is over-"

She didn't let him finish his sentence. "No."

"Huh?"

She put that stern look back on her face. "I said, no. Contact them tomorrow morning, as soon as they start. Don't go back to the place you're working right now."

Those few sentences changed the atmosphere of the dinner table completely. The whole kitchen was now filled with some kind of tension that was hard to describe. Something about them seemed to have triggered something inside Kimihito, for the way he acted has somehow changed. Yet again, it was a different Kimihito that none of the girls have been able to see until then. Papi and Suu had to hang on the girls next to them, and Miia and Mero were watching the quarrel with anxious eyes, their hands in front of their mouths. Centorea and Rachnera were eyeing the two, and it seemed like they were ready to stop the two if they actually started to get in a very intense fight, verbal or physical.

Kimihito shot back at his sister. it seemed like he was doing his best to conceal it, anyone could tell that he was quite angry, or at least annoyed, of this situation. "Satsuki! What do you think to be ordering me to do this and that? Besides, I've been working there for more than a year now! I can't just quit like this when I didn't even tell the owner today that I will!"

Satsuki didn't seem like she was going to give in. "So? Are you going to work there for the rest of your life? I can't just watch and see you working there as if you have no other place to go. You deserve a better place than there, Kimi, and you have to find a better place! You can't stay 20 forever. Already the people around you are talking about marriage and all that kind of stuff! And I don't care if you actually agree to that, but I do care if you don't have the ability to sustain yourself when you are in a bizarre situation as this one."

She pointed to the other girls. "Look, Kimihito. You've got 7 girls living in this house. And I have no reason to say anything about that. After all, I've been gone for so long, and it is entirely up to you to let them stay or not."

She caught her breath before she could continue. "But can you even maintain this status without being bound by that ridiculous marriage thing? Sure, the government pays for your food expenses and all that. But the rest? You know better than me. I'm pretty sure that you know that a new member in the family takes way more money than just the food expenses. And does the government support for all that? Kimi, I know that it's been a million years since you have bought anything for yourself. I'm pretty sure you didn't have the chance to save anything. It's about time you found a freaking regular place to work!"

The girls couldn't help but to look at the ground. They, or at least, everyone except Papi, knew what she was talking about. They did take a lot of money. All the clothes, all the games, and all the stuff they buy except for food was part of his expense. It is part of the deal that he had to sign when he signed to accept them as exchange students.

Kimihito, meanwhile, couldn't stop but keep on looking at the girls' expression while Satsuki was talking. He didn't want them to hear about this. When Satsuki finally ended talking, he just grabbed her by the wrist and nearly dragged her upstairs, where her room was. He wanted to do this conversation in a place where the other girls couldn't hear them.

And his plan would have worked perfectly if the 7 girls were just human and not liminals. But they were extraspecies. They could hear much better than an average human. They could eavesdrop without much effort, especially when they were shouting out to the content of their hearts. Well, but there wasn't much that Kimihito could to else anyway.

The rest of the conversation was quite blurry, not because they couldn't hear the audio itself, but rather because the two of them were yelling at the same time. It wasn't easy to find out what which one was exactly trying to say. After at least 10 minutes of continuous yelling, the two of them both came to a halt and caught their breath. Then came 30 seconds of heavy breathing, which was broken when Satsuki recovered her voice.

"I can't stay here forever, Kimi. Please, let me make you do this while I'm still here."

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone!

Sorry this took so long. College life is literally killing me, and I'm not getting more than a 3 hours of sleep every day. It was hard for me to find the time to write. Although I hate to say this, I would have to put this story to a halt. Perhaps I'll return to it when I find the time to at least, sleep. Or maybe when the season 2 for the animation comes out? Either way, it would take a long time, and I can't assure you that I will be able to return. I apologize for stopping the writing this way, but I had no choice.


	23. Chapter 23

"What are you even talking about? I'm not letting you leave randomly like that again!"

"Kimi!" She paused a bit. "I know it's hard to understand. But you have to prepare for it. I have to leave."

"What makes you to?" If the girls weren't mistaken, his voice was trembling. "Who would try to take you away from your rightful legal guardian? Why?"

Satsuki answered back with silence. A few seconds later, Kimihito asked again.

"Satsuki, is the new environment in the house that hard to bear? With all the new people living in our house?"

Without being able to bear until Satsuki replied, Miia rushed away back to her room, blocking her ears. She didn't want to listen; or rather, she wouldn't be able to stand it if Satsuki answered with a yes. The others tried to stop her, but she was way too fast. And the rest were curious about how she would respond.

"It is a bit difficult to adjust. And to be honest, they aren't the most ideal housemates. I can't deny that. But that's not the main reason why. If that was the reason, I would have driven them out of the house. Believe me Kimi, I'm not as kind as you are."

The others gave out a sigh in relief.

"But then why?"

"I can't explain to you. But someday you'll understand…"

"You can't explain anything!" The trembling was now obvious. "You can't even explain where you were for all this time and why you left. Now you're saying that you're going to leave me, _again_ , and you can't even explain why? May, please!"

Another silence broke the air. The girls could hear the sound of liquid dropping to the floor. Someone was crying.

After a minute or two, Satsuki finally answered.

"During those two years," she spoke slowly, "I met my mother."

"Mother? You mean our…"

"No, Kimi. That's your mother, not mine. I mean my biological mother."

"But you told me that your mother…." He was stuttering. "I mean, your biological mother, you mean really…?"

"Yes. My mother in blood. My biological mother. She wants me back, Kimi."

The girls looked at each other. They knew that this was not a problem that could be easily dealt with. No one stopped Meroune when she took out her phone. A familiar number was dialed.

"Ms. Smith? Yes, it's me. There is something that I would have to inform you, about Dear Sir…"

* * *

And hour later, a familiar face came by at the Kurusu house, with her usual comrades.

"…So you've been eavesdropping?" Her dark eyes seemed darker than ever. Although she wasn't yelling at them with an angry face, she gave out the vibe that it would have been better if she was yelling at them. She looked like she could pop out from a horror movie as a young girl who wanted revenge.

"I'm sorry, Satsuki, we didn't mean to, it just…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that your senses are much more sensitive than humans." She seemed to be emphasizing the 'much more sensitive', in a way that someone would use satire. "Sorry that I forgot that I am _so inferior_." She jeered, her complexion this time much more sarcastic. She was smiling in a very unpleasant way. Meroune wished that she returned to her horror-like face.

Kimihito tried to stop her. The atmosphere in the house was getting very awkward. Everyone was in the living room sitting on or standing around the couch-the 7 girls, the Kurusus, and the MON crew, and no one seemed to be able to stop the young girl's anger, including her brother that was sitting at her right. "Satsuki."

She looked back at her brother in the eyes. Her once sweet, warm eyes were now just dark, even to her own brother. But it didn't look as horrible as when she was looking at Meroune. She seemed to be making an effort not to front her brother.

"I don't approve of people that don't show enough trust, Kimi. Especially those who go on telling others, government officials in particular, about someone else's secrets."

"I understand that the situation may not seem too good, Satsuki, but it could be understood. After all, Ms. Smith is part of the exchange program, so it would make sense if we told her about… uh… a being related to…" He was trying his best to placate her.

Though, at the same time, he was wondering how she managed to find out that the rest of the household knew about her. Since Satsuki banged out of the room when Meroune was having a call (The looks on Meroune and Satsuki's face was something that spectators could never forget), it made sense that she knew what Meroune told Ms. Smith. But didn't she forget that she told them about everything? If that was the case, wouldn't it be right for her to be demanding for the reason why they knew of all of that.

"I must have been stupid and crazy enough to think that nothing happened that day when I just somehow fainted."

Kimihito and the girls who lived in the household exchanged a glance.

"How did you…"

Satsuki didn't answer. Instead, she drove one of her fingernails on her right hand into her left arm, that was almost cured by now. She has showed an incredible healing rate, that except for the major cuts, most of the damages were healed. The nails weren't long and sharp, so it couldn't pierce into the skin, but it was enough to leave a very deep mark. Everyone was shocked in their own degree.

"Hey kid, stop it!" Zombina, who was sitting next to her left, pulled in her left arm, so that she could no longer harm it. "What do you think you're doing? You're going to make another cut on your arm!"

Indeed, she was right. A small but deep red mark was forming on her left arm, and it didn't seem like it would get better any soon.

Satsuki looked back at Zombina as if she was a mother that was making a fuss of her child getting a papercut. It seemed like the act and the pain was nothing unusual.

"This kind of physical pain is obvious. Everyone can see the mark. But to be honest, it didn't hurt as much as it seems."

Everyone, including Smith, was out of words. Satsuki now seemed like either a psychopath or a complete genius, or maybe even both. She certainly wasn't the young girl that they knew for the past few days. She was a totally different person with just the same person. Somehow, the things that were inside of that appearance had changed. Or did this part of Satsuki always remain in her, throughout all that time?

"But the pain in my eyes that I can feel when I do _that_ …" She slowly closed her eyes and opened it again. "It's never obvious. No one can see it, and no one can feel it. But I can. It isn't anything that I can easily ignore or forget. I know when I did something that I shouldn't have done, even if I was somehow knocked out for a while."

Miia shuddered as she remembered those dirty-ruby eyes. It seemed like it left a certain amount of pain whenever it had to do one of its 'magic'. She didn't really care about that, though. She just didn't want to go through it again.

"And besides, it didn't make sense. Out of all people, me, fainting due to fatigue? Just because I've moved some boxes around?" She chuckled in a low voice. It was enough to give her audience some goosebumps. "Nonsense. You guys should have came up with a better excuse."

She touched her new red mark, which was coming back to its normal state much faster than anyone could imagine, with her fingers, softly and gently. "Now let's think about what might have happened that day. It was the day of the new moon. Somebody must have triggered me." Rachnera knew that it meant her. "Or maybe many people triggered me. Who knows. But my eyes seem to have given them their punishment, and to explain about that, I must have told you what I was."

Centorea didn't mean to, but without her even knowing, her head was nodding in approval. The child was very clever indeed. She could understand why her master told her to be careful with her.

"Of course, somehow someone managed to knock me out in time," she was obviously looking at Lala. "And so I can't remember a thing that actually happened. So everyone just put up a giant play. Which was, to be honest, not very convincing. You guys should have acted out better than that."

"How did you-"

Satsuki snorted. "I spent my whole life looking on other people's expressions and reading them. I know when someone is trying to deceive me. Besides, the rest of the story isn't too unfamiliar anyway. Happens all the time, and always ended with the same ending."

Before Satsuki could say anything more, Smith put down the coffee cup she was holding and faced Satsuki. "So, is it true about everything they said? About this half-blood business?"

Satsuki looked back at Smith. It was hard to describe the look she was giving to her. "Half-blood… Well, it really depends on how you think about it. Some people think that extraspecies themselves are half-breeds of humans and animals. Well then, should I have to call myself a one-third or something?"

Smith fixed the position of her sunglasses. "But is this even… I've never heard about this."

"I have," replied Doppel. "Our kind knows a lot about them."

"Just as thee, I know it well enough." Lala joined in. "Dulahans looked over life and death for a long period of time. We have seen the rise and the fall of their race."

"Everything what they said is true, boss."

"Even that 'gift' is true?"

"Yup."

Smith sighed.

"Cutie-pie, is this all really true?"

Satsuki looked at the ogre. As gigantic as she is, she seemed to be the most genuinely kind one in the room that really wanted to believe that all of this was nonsense. Well, of course, with the exception of Kimihito, who was too shocked by the conversation earlier, and Papi and Suu, who just don't know enough to make a decision about anything.

"If you really experienced what I can do, Tio, I bet you would regret ever giving me that nickname. I'm pretty sure at least one of these people has experienced what I could do. Find out who it is, since I don't want to, and ask them how it seems. I doubt you'll ever want to call me in any nickname."

Tio looked like she really wanted to cry. Not being able to stand the sight, Smith hit the table hard. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Satsuki looked at the agent with blank eyes for a slight second. And then she suddenly started to laugh, as she even clapped her fingers. Every time her two palms met each other, the other people in the room could feel another wave of goosebumps being formed on their skin.

"Since when did people like us have the responsibility to tell about all this? We are biologically human, you know? Just a bit sturdier." She held up her left arm, which was now perfectly clean. "I am not an extraspecies, and I do not have to go through any kind of paperwork or verification process whatsoever to you. And besides, you're being paid for all this business. If you couldn't find out until someone told you everything, then maybe you should consider getting another job."

"May! Watch what you're saying!"

Satsuki ignored him, and shot back at Smith once more. Then she abruptly stood up from her seat and headed towards her room. No one dared to stop her.

Shocked as he was, Kimihito didn't have time to just be surprised by that. "I'm sorry, Ms. Smith. Satsuki would never do that in normal stances. I think that the recent happenings had just been on her nerves."

"You don't have to apologize for what she did," replied Smith, as she took a sip of coffee. "But if all of this is true, then the problem may get a bit big. I'm pretty sure Doppel will give me some additional information about her… species…" She shot back at Doppel with eyes that said 'why didn't you tell me earlier'.

She adjusted her sunglasses. "In the meantime, I think you should check on your sister. I have a feeling that she might be having some problems, emotionally, or," her index finger pointed at her head.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he could see why Smith was saying that. The way she behaved a bit ago was outside the boundaries of normal. "I don't know what happened. But she acts so _different_. At one moment, I get the feeling that she is just the same young sister. But a few minutes later, she would act so weird!" Kimihito covered his face with his hands.

"Darling…"

"I don't care if she isn't human. Even if she came up to me and told me that she was a devil, I wouldn't care. She is still my younger sister. But the way she's acting, that's the problem. She's acting like she has some kind of post-traumatic-whatsoever. And she won't tell me anything."

Usually the one that does the cheering up at this point is Tionishia. But she wasn't fully recovered from what Satsuki said a bit ago. Papi and Suu didn't seem like they were understanding the situation properly (at least they seemed so. Who knows what the slime is thinking), and even the others could feel that this problem was out of their hands.

"Don't worry to much, bae!" The upbeat zombie tried to cheer him up instead. "It happens sometimes when young kids or liminals wander for too long. We've dealt with some cases. They'll come back to normal after some time."

"I hope," Kimihito murmured.

Smith cleared her throat. "I'm pretty sure she wasn't too happy about the fact that you guys told on her." She looked at the housemates. "I think you guys should try to talk into her. This is for the relationship between you guys and her, but you would know that in the end, it could solve some other problems as well."

"What problems?" Papi chirped. Of course, she wouldn't know.

"I'll tell you later, Papi." Centorea silenced her for the moment. She then looked at Smith. "But Smith-sama, are you sure this is something that could be solved that simply?"

"Probably not. She said that she met her biological mother during the 2 years that she was missing, right?" Kimihito nodded. "It's hard to predict what she has experienced.. Besides, 2 years is no short time, especially for a girl in her teens. Who knows what she might have went through."

"For now, I won't inform the higher officials about this. I'm pretty sure they'll make a fuss about this if they found out. That would be the worst. We'll do our best to find about her kind quietly."

"In the meantime, it would help if you guys make her talk about who she is. Her biological mother, who she is, what species she is, what she went through…"

"Wait," Rachnera stopped her. "Is it right to assume that her biological mother is the one that isn't human? It could be her father, you know."

"Makes sense. It seems like we should open all possibilities. Including the possibility that I have already met her before."

"Huh?"

Smith took another sip of her coffee. "She seems to be acting differently to me. And somehow, she seems to be daring me to know more about her. Not to even mention that she seems to be hating me a lot."

"I'm really sorry about that, Ms. Smith."

"As I told you, it isn't anything for you to apologize. I'll ask for an apology from her later when she isn't so disturbed" She rose from her seat, and the rest of the MON crew rose with her. "So it seems like everyone has something to do. Work hard!"

After a few good-byes, the MON crew left. The girls returned to their own rooms, and Kimihito headed towards Satsuki's.

Knock, knock.

"Satsuki, are you in?"

No one answered.

"Can I go in?"

Silence. Kimihito opened the door, only to find the room empty of human presence. He was about to call out for Satsuki, when he spotted a note left on her desk.

 _'I'll be outside for a while. Don't worry about me. I'll be back soon. –May'_

* * *

 ** _A/N Thanks for the wait! I'm back!_**


	24. Chapter 24

"Mero, did you find anything in the water?"

Mero brought herself up to the surface from the bottoms of the lake. She swam towards the shore, where her wheelchair was parked. "Nothing in the water, Dear Sir!"

Centorea came back from the direction she looked in. "I couldn't find the lady over in this direction, Master."

"Same in this direction!" Although Kimihito couldn't see the figure yet, he knew that that voice was Rachnera's.

"Where could she be?" Kimihito talked to himself, as he finished helping Meroune get in her wheelchair. He only asked the three of them to follow him in his search. Papi and Suu were not exactly the most ideal partners in a search. Lala would just end up losing her head somewhere, and he couldn't afford to lose another person, or another head. And Miia… well, he had a feeling that she wouldn't be too much help in a night search. She would freak out at anything.

He fidgeted with the small flashlight in his hands. "She wouldn't have been able to go anywhere far away."

"And I doubt that anyone could have kidnapped her… She is quite a handful."

"Please, Rachnee. I don't even want to think about that option." He shook his head in disapproval. "Anyway, if that's the case, I guess our only option is the forest." He headed his flashlight towards Kii's forest, which was of course, all darkness at this time of the night.

Centorea wasn't too happy with this idea. "Are you sure, Master? It's easy to get lost in a forest as large as that one at this time. And you could get hurt, Master! It is hard to spot the tree roots at the ground when there is no sunlight."

"I'll have to agree with her on this case, Honey." Rachnera was now right next to the croud, where even Kimihito could see her. "I can already see you toppling on a bush or something. Besides, didn't she write that she would be back? You know that she could easily take care of herself. I dare that anything would happen to her."

"Besides, Dear Sir, Miss Kii knows how to manage the forest. She'll make sure nothing dangerous happens-"

"Please!" Kimihio shouted in the middle of Meroune's speech, surprising everyone. His face was red with all of the running and yelling, and a hint of anger.

"You guys are all saying that because you think that there is nothing to be afraid about!"

Kimihito had to take another breath before he could continue.

"I understand that it could be difficult for you guys to understand how worried I am about Satsuki. You might think that she'll just make it out safe no matter what happens, since she has those kinds of weird abilities. But she's my younger sister. I can't just let her astray outside this late. And even though she has those abilities, you all saw the condition she was in when she came back home."

The girls looked down at the ground in embarrassment. He had a point.

"If any of you left a note and disappeared, I would have came out to look for you as well. I would have looked everywhere. Even without that, is it really so weird for a brother to be worried about his sister?"

With only saying that, he walked into Kii's forest, with only a flashlight in his hands.

"Master! Wait for us!"

* * *

The group moved for a long time, without much of a conversation. The girls were afraid that they might irritate Kimihito, and Kimihito was too focused on the search that he didn't really bother to talk.

The forest wasn't really dense at the beginning, but as time passed, it became really thick. If it wasn't for the flashlight, it would have been impossible for Kimihito to see a thing. It was becoming hard to go in any deeper because of all of the foliage.

"I never knew that this forest would be this thick." Kimihito said, after a long silence. "Don't you agree…"

Kimihito looked back, just to find that the three girls were nowhere to be found. When did they disappear? He realized that at some point, only his flashlight was brightening up the way, while the other 3 were absent. He just couldn't recognize it back then.

"Oh please," he thought that he should have paid more attention to the girls. He was too focused on looking for Satsuki, or a trace of her, that to be honest, he totally forgot about them for a while.

He stopped and used the flashlight in his hands to look around him. There were just a lot of trees, and nothing else. There was no sign of Satsuki, or the three girls. Was that even possible?

"Those girls are quite big. And Mero can't get off her wheelchair, so they wouldn't have been able to get so far…" he murmured to himself.

"But does it make any sense? They would have probably been looking at me for most of the time. How could have they lost me? I wasn't even running! And even if I was, I could never run away from them even if I wanted to!" He panicked, as he found himself reach the conclusion that, something must have happened to them. If not, they just couldn't lose him.

"No," he breathed to himself. "No way."

He started to run, with no grasp of where he was going. He was desperate, but at the same time he could feel the fear storing up in his body. Someone, or something, in this forest, has taken his sister and his housemates.

He ran. He could feel the forest getting thicker, but he didn't care. He used his hands to get rid of the trees and bushes that were blocking his way. He could feel his skin getting cut, but he didn't care.

The thing was, he wasn't too sure if he was trying to run towards something, or to run away from it. He had no idea where in the forest he was. His brain was telling him to find them, but somewhere in his hearty he could hear his instinct yell, "Run! You won't stand a chance against it!"

He stopped at a random point to catch a breath. After taking some deep breaths, he found out that he has stopped right in front of a giant tree. It wasn't just big, it was gigantic. Although the darkness made it hard to really figure out how big it was, one thing was for sure-it was huge. It must be at least a hundred years ago. This tree must be the center of the forest, he thought to himself.

"Wait a bit, if this is the center, then…"

"Human, what brings you here at this time?"

"Kii!"

It was her. When Kimihito used the flashlight to make sure, she held her arms to cover herself from the bright light. Kimihito pointed the flashlight at another direction right after, but he got the information he needed.

"Kii, at least I found you! Do you know where-"

Kii interrupted, and although Kimihito couldn't really see her facial expressions, he could see that she was not happy to see him here at this time. Well, at least that was no surprise. "You're looking for the mermaid, the Arachne, and the centaur, right?"

"Do you know where they are?" At last, he could get some hints of where they were! He was relieved.

Kii pointed at her right. Kimihito followed the tree roots around her body (that were functioning as her fingers) and pointed his flashlight. Although it was really fast, and hard to determine what it was, he could see a very fast movement.

He ran towards the movement, his flashlight headed towards the direction. "Hey! Wait for me!"

After just a few seconds, he could see the figures he was longing to see so much. But they weren't really in the state he was expecting. He didn't really know what he was expecting; maybe he expected them to be looking for him as desperately as himself.

What he saw was the three of them doing all they could do to capture someone-a man, for sure. The silhouette was definitely a male's. Centorea was chasing him on full-speed. Rachnera was shooting out webs constantly in a tremendous speed, and by looking from a distance, Kimihito could see that she already built a giant outline, and was creating a giant net from the outside to the inside. It was like looking at making process of a professional hunting web. Meroune, who couldn't move on land that fast, was still doing the best she could to chase him on her wheelchair.

And somehow, the man was managing to get out of their grasp. He was definitely tall, but that didn't stop him from escaping all of the girl's efforts to catch him. He ran, jumped, and hopped between trees, as if he did this every other day. His movements were fast, of course, but at the same time, very graceful. It was as if he wasn't human, but some kind of un-earthly being in human form. Kimihito could feel his aura just by looking at his movements from far away. He could feel himself forgetting everything else and just observing his movements, as if he was watching a performance of a professional dance team.

While Kimihito was staring at him in awe, even forgetting to call out to the girls, the man seemed to have recognized his existence.

"Hey, over there! Are you their host family?"

Kimihito barely got back into his senses. "Uh…yeah!"

"Listen to me!" He yelled, as he avoided Centorea's hands, "They won't be able to hear anything you say now. You have to help me to get them in their senses!"

He hopped to one tree and jumped over to another before he could continue. "I'll lure them to your direction. You'll have to get caught by them!"

"What?!"

"Just do as I say! That's the only way they'll be able to return to normal!" He jumped in place to avoid something, probably Rachnera's webs. "You just stay there and get caught in the arachne's webs!"

Before Kimihito could protest any more, the man started to move again. Looking at it from a closer distance, it started to look more like an mystic, legendary martial arts technique or something. He moved-no, jumped, nearly 10 meters without much effort, and headed towards Kimihito's direction. The three girls headed towards Kimihito's direction and started to attack in this direction as well.

While he was just standing there, not too sure what to do, he found out that the girls weren't noticing him. They were too focused on trying to catch the mysterious guy. And the closer they came, the more certain Kimihito was, that the way they were chasing him, was the way that Miia, Papi, and Centorea chased him during the night of the full moon. Their eyes were nearly half-crazy and out of spirit, only pure purpose.

The man finally came right in front of Kimihito and passed by him in a tremendous speed. Although he was so fast that Kimihito couldn't even see his face properly, he could see that he winked. Before Kimihito could even respond to that wink, he could feel a strong, invisible thread wrapping around his body. Of course, he knew what this was. But he also knew that this wasn't the usual tightness. It was so tight that he felt like choking, although it only wrapped around his stomach once. Kimihito could feel the flashlight falling out of his hands; he just couldn't hold onto it. The pressure of the thread was too strong.

It only took seconds until he was totally caught in the web. Now Kimihito really felt like he couldn't breathe. Thinking that she finally captured her target, Rachnera came closer to him slowly, her eyes redder than ever. Centorea and Mero also came closer. Without the flashlight to guide his sight, the bright colors of their eyes were even more prominent with the dark forest as the background. Kimihito couldn't really find the right word to describe them. Probably 'dangerously sexy' would be the right word, with the emphasis on the 'dangerous' than the sexy.

When Rachnera finally came close enough, she caught him in her pedipalps. She then lowered her body to face him eye-to eye. Kimihito could swear that he never felt that much fear ever since Miia came. The way they looked at him was pure terror. They wanted him, yes that was the right way to say it, but not in a lovey-dovey kind of way. They _wanted_ him. They would kill to have him, to keep him as their possession. Everything was so sexual, with the girls starting to discard their clothing, but so fearful, that Kimihito didn't even have the time to process the 'sexual' part.

But after about 3 seconds of that, the eyes of his housemates came back to normal. "Honey?" "Master?" "Dear Sir?" They had no idea why they captured him. Rachnera looked at the giant spider web she just made in confusion. Centorea and Meroune were looking at each other, as if they were asking each other what they were just doing. Of course, neither of them had the answer.

"Oh my. Why are you in my web, Honey?" Rachnera asked, quickly loosening the webs after looking at how red his face has been due to the stop of blood circulation. "What just happened?"

"Master! Forgive me for my insolence and misdoing! But I swear upon my holy pledge that I have no memory of what has happened!"

"Dear Sir, I-"

Kimihito came back to his smiling face again. "Oh, finally you guys are back to normal! That's enough. It's all okay now."

"But what just happened, Honey? I can't remember a thing. I remember coming into the forest and following behind you, but "

"Oh, that's-" Kimihito looked around to find the mysterious man. He was the only one that could provide an explanation to all of this.

But he was out of sight. He grabbed the flashlight that he dropped and tried to look for him, but the efforts were in vain. He was nowhere to be found. Kimihito tried to yell out his name, when he figured out that he didn't know his name.

"What the…"

* * *

 **A/N: I'm doing my best not to drag the story too much. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	25. Chapter 25

"So you're telling us that we were chasing some guy?"

Kimihito nodded. "Uh… yeah. I'm sorry." Although he said nothing wrong and he did absolutely nothing wrong, he felt like he had to apologize. Kimihito was thinking that the girls were looking at him as if he told someone that their boyfriend is cheating on them, when the situation was actually quite the opposite.

"Why are you apologizing for?" Rachnera shook her head. She couldn't really get why Kimihito was always like that. "If there's anyone that should be apologizing right now, it should be us."

"What an unfaithful knight, to leave their master in the dark and dangerous woods! I don't deserve to remain by his side!"

"Stop yelling so, centaur." Kii appeared out of nowhere. "I don't like it when intruders come and make loud noises in the forest. And I really dislike it when intruders come into the forest and make a mess of it," she said, as she pointed at the remnants of the violent 'catch-me-if-you-can'. Even without the flashlight, it was pretty obvious that it was quite something.

Kimihito lowered his head. "I'm so sorry, Kii! I'll make sure I'll do something about it during the weekends!"

"I hope you do take responsibility." Kii replied. "I don't like my forest staying in such an ugly state."

"Dear Sir, please let us take the responsibility instead! It was not your fault at all!"

"Yes, please let your servant do everything she could! It is a knight's honor to do her master's job!"

Rachnera looked at the two of them and just said, "Seriously?" It was pretty obvious that she didn't want to come out into the woods to work. But of course, she couldn't openly say that, since it was pretty obvious that she was the reason why the woods were in such a mess. She just shook her head.

"Don't worry about it and leave it to me." Kimihito gave out one of his signature smiles. "I'll take care of it."

It was soon followed with a lot of dialogues starting with 'Dear Sir's and 'Master's, which Rachnera had no interest in listening fully.

"Fine, the three of us will come out tomorrow and take care of this. Case closed. You don't have to take care of this mess, Honey." As reluctant as she was, she knew that she had to take responsibility of what she did.

"But-"

"No 'but's, Honey," she said, as she somehow got behind him in a blink of an eye and covered his mouth with her hand, her body leaning towards him as she whispered into his ear in a very sexy, typical Rachnee-san style. But then she got her torso upright and faced Kii, and got serious again.

"But that doesn't make much sense. How could we be chasing someone in full power and not even remember it? Besides, if we were chasing some other guy buy instinct, how did we end up catching Honey and getting back into our senses?"

Kii looked at her with her usual emotionless eyes. "You seem to have no knowledge of who he is and what he is capable of."

Rachnera was not happy with Kii's attitude, which made it seem like Kii was thinking of her as a young girl that doesn't know enough of the world. But she couldn't answer, of course. She really had no idea who she was chasing.

"Lady Kii, do you know who the lad was?"

Kii looked at her strangely. "You don't know either? I would understand why the mermaid princess and the Arachne wouldn't know, but it is odd that you don't know about him either. You are a centaur, right?"

Centorea looked at her in confusion. "Is he a centaur in disguise or something?"

Kii shook her head. "No, you totally got it wrong." She paused for a moment and continued. "I do not think it is my duty to explain fully who he is. Nor do I think it is proper manners to talk about someone else's identity without his permission."

Now Kimihito was the one that was confused. For all he knew, Kii and Papi spent a lot of time talking about himself, his personality, his actions, and so on and so forth. Kii was definitely not the one to be saying that line.

"Don't look at me like that, human," Kii seemed to have noticed his uneasiness. "Things are a different matter when it comes to this man. To answer your question, centaur, the answer is no. If you could remember even a glimpse of him, then you would not be saying those words. He is very human."

"He came to the forest one day, in broad daylight. I do not think he was expecting to see a dryad. He seemed surprised. But at least he had manners. As soon as he noticed my presence, he asked me if he could stay in the forest for a while. He told that he would not hunt more than his need, and that he would do his best not to disturb the forest. He also said that he would help me maintain the forest." She slightly chuckled. "He tried very hard to keep his word. What I found out later was that it wasn't him that actually disturbed the forest- it was young maidens like yourselves."

"You mean we weren't the first ones to start chasing him like that?"

Kii shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. There were a few others that fell into the same trap. Or, as I should say, the same man. They did have some different methods-I remember the young devil trying to enchant him with her magic. But it usually ended up in a catch-me-if-you-can in the end, which meant that there were a lot of damaged trees and forest life." She frowned in disapproval.

"And you let him stay in the forest?" As far as Kimihito knew, Kii was not generous to those who damaged the forest, intentional or not.

Kii's face slightly reddened, just enough so that she could feel the warmness in her cheeks, but the others couldn't see it properly. "If you have ever talked with him, I am sure you would have made the same decision. And besides… I can't reject his offers. I'm pretty sure none of you-" she looked at the three girls in particular. "Wouldn't have been able to reject any of his offers, except for his offer to leave."

Rachnera snorted. "What is he? Some kind of Casanova or something?"

"I do not know who you are talking about. But I would tell you that if you are thinking of a normal human flirt, he is nothing similar to that. In fact, I'm not so sure if it is just to call him a flirt. He just attracts women around him, but I doubt that he meant to attract any of them. In fact, his whole species is like that. As soon as his kind is caught in the radar, especially in the night, women lunge for him, and they do everything to catch him. You three were trying to do that earlier."

Centorea's face reddened in anger. "Do not accuse me of being unloyal to my master! I am not loyal to any man except for my master. I wouldn't even serve my own father to this intensity!"

"I cannot think of myself loving someone else than Dear Sir, even less a man that I have never even met before!"

"You should be careful of what you accuse me of thinking and feeling, dryad."

Kii looked back at them as if they were young children. "Believe it as you please. But human," she looked at Kimihito, "you have seen what they were doing just a bit ago. You have seen with your eyes how they were blinded from everything else except for that man. He was clever to lure them to your direction and make you get caught in the arachne's web. He knew for a slight second, their unconsciousness would think that they have caught the man they were chasing for. He only needed that slight second, that slight second of misconception, that would make them look into your eyes. He always finds a way to make them see someone else that they know, in the eye, and free them from their quest to capture them. For some reason, when they see someone else that they know, they would come back into their senses and forget the fact that they were chasing someone.

But what if you never came to find them? It could have been difficult for even him to evade three of them for a very long period of time. You have seen the way these ladies were looking at you when they have captured you. Can you truly say that I am talking nonsense?"

Kimihito could see that Kii had a point. He remembered the way that Rachnera looked at him. That was a 'wanting' that was even more evident that the wanting in Miia's expression on a full moon. But this was all so much to take in. So many emotions were flying around in his head that even he himself couldn't fully comprehend them.

"Wait a bit, you said that he was human, right? As far as I remember, he moved too fast to be a human. I could barely even trace him with my eyes. And I know that it is difficult enough trying to avoid extraspecies that are in their right minds. How can some guy even run away from three of them when they are only following their instinct?"

Kii looked at him as if she would say, 'you have a lot to learn'. "The Earth has been home for many different kinds of life. His kind is probably one of the most special, yet the most dangerous. But he is human. He is probably the few people left in the world that are even more human than the others."

Kimihito gave up on trying to understand the whole situation. Instead, he decided to ask Kii about something else. "Kii, did you happen to see a young girl around in the forest? I'm looking for my sister right now, and I can't find her anywhere. She's not that tall, and her face is slightly tan."

"It's strange to see you move on to a different topic so strangely. Did you give up on understanding the whole situation? But to answer your question, the answer is no. I haven't seen such a young girl. Even I do not know when someone enters the forest until I actually see them. Are you sure that you looked everywhere else?"

"I'm sure. And she wouldn't have had the time to go quite far."

Kii took a few seconds to think. "I do not have interest in helping you. However, I do not want you to tell others about the man that you have seen today, and I fear that a young girl might get herself in trouble. I have never went there myself, but I remember Papi telling me about a forest near the mountain. Did you look over there?"

"No, I actually didn't even know that there was a forest nearby the mountain."

"It seems to be a forest not visited by many people. Papi once told me that you have to go east from the entrance of the mountain to reach it. It is mostly barren, with a lot of dead trees. Maybe she is there."

Kimihito nodded. His facial expression was hard to understand. "Thank you, Kii. I'll take a look at that place."

"Please, don't tell about the man to anyone else. I do not want the forest to get any more disturbed." Her face was so evident with jealousy, that even Kimihito could know that that wasn't the main reason why she didn't want him to tell others about the mysterious man.

* * *

On their way to the barren forest, none of them spoke. For the girls, it was mostly because of embarrassment. After all, they have been fighting against each other just for the attention of Kimihito. They just couldn't understand why they would suddenly start chasing some man that has appeared out of nowhere, no matter how attractive he is or whatsoever. Instinct seemed like a lame excuse. Of course, the most horrible part of it was that they didn't remember a thing. They wanted to say that there is no way that such a thing could have happened, but that seemed rather difficult to do.

For Kimihito, it was mostly because his mind was too much of a mess. All kinds of emotions were being tangled inside his head. Up to some point, he was sad that he was somehow suddenly forgotten by everyone. Although he knew that they weren't in their sane minds, that wasn't too assuring. If something similar like this happened again, will everyone forget about him and leave him?

Of course, part of his mind was with jealousy. He knew that he couldn't deny it. Perhaps deep down in his heart, he thought that he was the only special one that the girls were interested in, and that they wouldn't start liking someone else anytime soon. Well, at least that was proved to be quite wrong.

Another part of it was still having a hard time processing about the guy. He still couldn't believe Kii when she said that he was perfectly human. How on Earth could he be considered human? The way he moved was totally on another level.

It kept on leading to the conclusion that probably he was someone like May. That would make sense. But the girls weren't crazy around May as they were around the guy. Perhaps the attraction only occurred to those with an opposite gender. And if that was the case, then does it mean that May would be able to move around like that?

And of course, a big part of his brain was concerned about May. Where was she? Would she be where Kii has told him about? If she wasn't there, where would he look for now?

Or maybe she already got back home by now. Kimihito put his hand in his right pocket to take out his cellphone. He took out what he thought was his cellphone, only to find out that it has been broken in half.

"Oh." He stopped walking, bringing the whole group to a halt.

"What troubles you, Master?"

"Uh… I think my phone broke in half." He showed the remnants of the phone to the girls.

"Dear Sir, when did that happen?"

"I'm not so sure…" But he actually did kind of know that it must have snapped in half when Rachnera was capturing him. She might have crushed it with her pedipalps or something. But there is no need to mention that. "It was pretty old, after all. It was about time when I got myself a new one. Who doesn't use smartphones nowadays, anyway?"

"Honey, I think-"

Kimihito cut in on purpose, knowing that Rachnera would have talked about the remnants of her webs on the phone, and how she must have been the one that has broke it. "It's not a big deal, except for that I can't get any calls from home. Maybe went back home, as she wrote down on that note."

He cleared his throat. "But we should take a look at the forest before we get home. If she's already home and safe, then it's fine. But if she still isn't home, then we have to find her and take her home no matter what."

But it was soon revealed that there was no need for them to go into that forest, or rather, what used to be a forest. It was more like a small wasteland, with a lot of dead trees. Kimihito could see why no one would want to come in here. It was a horrible place.

For time's sake, and since this 'forest' wasn't as thick and maze-like as Kii's forest, Kimihito asked Rachnera and Centorea to go on a patrol, while he walked slowly and looked for some other kind of evidence of his sister's existence. The more he walked, though, the more he hated this place. He honestly thought that he'd rather go through a full moon night with all 7 girls than to spend a night in here by himself. If it wasn't for the hoof sounds that could be heard distantly, he wouldn't have been able to bear it.

"Master, I don't think the lady is in here," said Cerea after coming back from her short patrol. "The land is small and is blocked by giant mountain boulders." She then stopped talking, finding it extremely awkward to talk to Kimihito after that 'catch-me-if-you-can' incident. She was too embarrassed.

Before Kimhito could think too deeply about why she wouldn't say anything, Rachnera returned, with something in her hands. "She might not be here right now, but someone must have been," she said. "And I think that the person that has been here recently is the one that we were looking for."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm really grateful that there are a lot of people following this story, and that there are people that post their reviews for this. I'll do my best on it, so please bear with me.**

 **Talking about reviews, there is so much that I would wish to tell you, and so many points that I would like to clarify. I wish I could, but that would be spoiling, and I do not want that to happen. So I guess the only thing I can say is, 'Please, read on!' I'm pretty sure that most of your questions would be answered by the end of the story.**


	26. Chapter 26

Unlike Rachnera, who had no problem seeing in the darkness, the others needed light. Kimihito turned his flashlight to the object Rachnera was holding in her hands. It was a small, dead stump, except that had something similar to a knuckle-print on it; something like a shape of clay that was punched into really hard.

"The damage seems fresh. It hasn't been longer than 3 hours," she explained. "And taking a look at the surface of the stump, I think it was hit by a human hand. A small one too."

"How do you know these kinds of things?" Kimihito murmured.

"I lived in the forest for quite a while, Honey. I know these kinds of things." She answered quickly, and returned back to the stomp. "Anyway, there is a great possibility that she was here. The size of the print is too small to be an adult male's, but whoever had made this print must have been quite strong. Dead of not, trees aren't exactly the easiest substances to make an impression on with bare hands."

Kimihito compared the size of the impression with his own hands. It was notably small. Rachnera had a point.

"Well, we do have the possibility that an extraspecies has made this print, someone like that dragonewt girl, but…"

Kimihito headed towards outside. He made his mind.

"Let's go back home, everyone. I think that's where she is right now."

* * *

"I hope Darling finds her and comes back soon…"

The members that were left in the house were all sitting on the couch. Miia was just holding the phone, waiting for a call from Kimihito. Papi and Suu, the only two who were lucky enough to be innocent about difficult matters like this one, were playing with the Wii. Lala was just sitting, and she looked like she was thinking to herself about something. Who knows what that might be.

"Lala," Miia called out with a calm tone. "Do you think we will ever be able to go along with Satsuki?"

Lala turned her head to face her. "I am not a future-teller. I do not know either."

"But you know more about her than I do. At least you could make better assumptions, right?"

Lala slid her hand on the snath of her scythe. "Just because I know about human beings does not mean that I know everything about the owner of this house. It's the same for her case. I know a little about her species, but I know little of her. I cannot give you an answer."

Miia was on the verge to yell at her, tell her that that wasn't what she should be saying. But she somehow sustained from it. Instead of yelling, she didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"You know, I really do like Darling." Miia said out of the blue.

Lala decided to listen to what she was about to say instead of interrupting her. There must be a reason for her to say something that was absolutely obvious.

"I know about the law and everything. And I know that because of that, Darling will not try to approach me more than a certain amount, even if he does feel the same. If we get caught, I will get deported, but he will have to get punished and stay in jail or something. It is a bigger risk for him.

But I still like him. It's okay if he doesn't take me as his only wife. I want to stay by his side as long as possible. I'm okay with sharing him with other people as long as I could stay by him. That's all I could really ask for right now."

Lala wondered where this talk was leading to.

"Up to now, I thought that I still had a lot of time left for me. Perhaps even enough for me to make him fall for me."

Something dropped on the floor, making a very small pool of liquid.

"But something tells me that ever since Satsuki appeared, I don't have a lot of time left. I don't know, you might call me that I'm being anxious about things that aren't even true. But…" She wiped her tears. "Just somehow, I have a feeling that something will happen soon, and Darling will no longer be the Darling that he used to be."

"I don't see why you think so." Lala answered, obviously taken aback by the sudden tears. "It's not like he shall marry her or something, isn't it? I do not know too much of such emotions, but even I can sense that much."

Miia laughed quietly. "No, even I don't think that will happen. Both Darling and Satsuki don't seem romantically interested in each other. What I'm worrying about is something totally different… more like a giant event."

Lala wasn't too sure what she should tell Miia. She did have an assumption to why she was feeling that way, but she wasn't positive on whether she should explain that to her. Thank goodness Papi and Suu were too focused on the game that they weren't paying attention to them.

Suddenly Miia held her head. "Someone's coming."

"Are you sure?"

Nearly ignoring Lala, Miia went towards the door. Lala knew that Miia was wishing that it was Kimihito. She followed her, thinking that it wouldn't be that bad to greet him too.

But something felt weird. It was a feeling hard to convey in words. Lala looked around to see if anything was approaching her or staring at her. There was nothing unusual. Papi and Suu weren't even noticing that the two of them were standing. And nothing else seemed to have changed.

Miia seemed to have felt the weird atmosphere too. She stopped in place for a moment.

Now Lala could hear the sound of the footsteps too. Wait a second, she thought to herself. Didn't he go with Mero and Rachnera? It sounded too quiet.

She could hear the sound of the keys opening the door, and with the sounds entered… Satsuki?

"Young one, where were you! Your brother was…"

Before Lala could end her sentence, she could sense something strange. This time the feeling was even clearer than a few seconds before. She had to stop talking. She knew that something was coming

Something in front of her moved in a speed that she could not comprehend.

* * *

"Are you sure, Master? Wouldn't it be better to look around the town once more?"

"No, I have a feeling that she would be home. Come on, hurry!"

Centorea and Rachnera couldn't understand why Kimihito was such in a hurry all of a sudden. They were sure that he wasn't hurrying that much just a minute ago. But as if some kind of light bulb went on inside his head, he was now running. Following him was nothing difficult for the three; Centorea and Rachnera could go much faster than him even while they're carrying someone, and Mero was being wheeled by Rachnera in her new wheelchair, that was somehow able to bear the speed.

It didn't take long for them to reach the house.

"Miia! Did Satsuki come back?"

It was a yelling more than a question, but nevertheless, he didn't really have to wait for an answer.

In front of him Miia and Papi were on the floor with their faces down. Their arms were stretched forward, as if they have been attacked while they were doing something, unexpectedly. Lala was frozen in the spot. Suu was in a much more mature form, observing the overall situation with a serious face.

And then there was Satsuki, who was staring, no glaring, at Miia.

Her eyes were red.

"What is the meaning of this, Satsuki!"

"Hey!"

"May, what the…"

Before any of them could rush out to the girls that were already in the house, they could hear a voice that was coming from Satsuki's direction, but too harsh to be her's.

"Don't move."

Rachnera and Centorea obliged. Rachnera, who knew what those red eyes meant, shuddered in fear. Anyone could see her legs trembling and her lips turning blue.

But Kimihito didn't. He stepped forward.

"Satsuki, what did you do to them!"

She didn't answer. He went a few more steps. Rachnera tried to stop him, but she couldn't. She couldn't open her lips. Kimihito stopped in front of Satsuki and grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her to face him.

"I asked, what did you do to them!"

Rachnera thought that it was too late. Satsuki's eyes were still red when they were unintentionally turned along with her body to look at him. They looked at his eyes for a few seconds.

But it turned out that it wasn't. The red color was soon diluted into a color much closer to black. But her glaring didn't end.

"What did I do to them? You should ask them what they did to me."

"May!"

She turned to Suu and Lala. "Tell him what happened. I'm not staying here anymore." She turned towards the staircase.

Kimihito, wilder than any other time the girls could recall, grabbed her by the shoulder again and forced her to face him, this time more forcefully.

And to their surprise, he slapped her.

"You don't do things like this to other people and just get away with it!"

Satsuki touched her right cheek that was now turning red. Obviously shrouded in anger, she grabbed him by the collar with one hand, and pulled him in so that his eyes will be looking directly at hers.

"Hundreds of people did much more to me got away with it perfectly well. They almost did something ten times worse than what I did, and just because the results turned out like this, you are letting them get away with it and instead getting angry at me. How should I accept that?"

After saying that, she pushed her arm forwards with enough force to make him fall on the ground without being able to resist it. She looked at him once more, and went up the staircase.

Kimihito couldn't do anything but to watch her as she disappeared to the second floor.

* * *

"Master!" Centorea rushed out to Kimihito a few seconds later, after she fully regained her senses. She assisted him to get on his feet.

"I'm fine, Cerea." He didn't have any bruises or cuts, but even if he did have any, that wouldn't have been in his attention right now.

"Why…" He tried to say something after that, but he couldn't seem to find the right words to end that sentence. He instead shook his head and turned back to the other girls. "Let's take care of Miia and Papi first."

Soon enough Miia and Papi were in their beds. Rachnera, who managed to get back into reality quite soon enough, actually helped Kimihito carry Miia to her room while Centore a took care of Papi. Fortunately enough, there was no physical damage on them, they just fainted due to some kind of reason. And although they seemed to suffer from something similar to a nightmare for quite a while, their breathing soon turned much more regular and calm. Kimihito was panicking, whether he should do something else, but Rachnera told him, "that'll be enough."

"Are you sure, Rachnee?"

Rachnera thought for a second or two. "The remnants of what they saw today will remain for quite a while. There's no doubt for that. But it's not like it gives any lasting harm except for that."

Kimihito nodded. He didn't say anything for a while. When he finally opened his mouth, he said, "Why do you think she did this, Rachnee?"

Rachnee shook her head slowly. "We won't be able to know why until we hear about what happened. But I do believe that Satsuki didn't do that for no reason. Although I hate to doubt it, I provided her with reason a few days ago. I have a feeling that they did something somewhat similar."

Kimihito nodded, and soon woke up. "Come on, Rachnera. Let's go take a look at Suu and Lala. They didn't look to be in such a good state either."

Kimihito left the room, and Rachnera followed him, although she did look back to take another look at Miia before she was totally out of sight. When the both of them arrived at the living room, Centorea was already there after taking care of Papi, and Lala and Suu were seated on the sofa.

Lala seemed much better than before. Her head was on her lap while her body was properly seated; she looked just fine, although she wasn't smiling or anything. But Lala nearly smiled, so that was probably normal. Suu was just in the state that they had seen before. She was in a much more mature mode, her face stern.

"Is Papi okay, Cerea?"

"Yes Master, she sweated for a few minutes and gave out sounds as if she was having a bad dream, but she is now happily asleep. It seems like harpies do not have good memories even in their sleep."

"I guess that's a good thing for now." Kimihito turned his eyes to Lala. "Are you okay?"

Lala's head nodded. "I feel fine. She did not harm me as she seemed to have harmed the others."

"What do you mean?"

"Miia and Papi looked as if they were suffering from a hellhound bite. But all I could hear was a voice that echoed that I should not move forward and stop thy sister. I believe that she presented different scenes or voices; otherwise I wouldn't be so fine right now. Is that not so, Arachne?"

Rachnera had to agree to that. "I guess so. Looking at Miia's state, and thinking of what I went through last time, I guess that she intentionally only stopped her from interfering."

"Is that even possible?"

Lala shrugged. "Only she would know."

No one could go against that.

Centorea turned her attention to Suu. "Suu, are you okay?"

"Mind-magic doesn't affect slimes." Suu said, concise and clear.

Everyone could understand that, that made sense. After all, she was made out of some kind of liquid, she wouldn't be affected the same.

Kimihito cleared his throat. "Okay Lala, would you please tell me what happened?"

Lala sighed. "Before I start, I must warn you that you might not be able to believe what I tell."

Kimihito nodded. He didn't say anything, but his eyes told her that he wanted to hear the story now.

When Lala was just about to start talking, Suu spread her arms, and soon each of her fingers extended long enough to reach everyone's heads. When they all looked at Suu to ask her reason for this, she gave them a slightly crooked, mature smile.

"It will take less time this way."

Soon, they no longer were seeing what they were seeing just a few seconds ago, instead, they were all looking at the front door when it was just about to open, and Miia and Lala heading towards it.

Suu was literally showing them what happened.


	27. Chapter 27

The door opened almost forcefully, as if someone was pushing against it with a lot of strength put inside it. The arm and the hand that opened the door was visible, but they couldn't see the body or face of the opener, mostly because it was dark outside, and whoever it was, that person wasn't coming into the light.

But of course, it was pretty obvious who the possessor of those arms were.

"Satsuki! Where were you? Darling was looking for you!" They could her Miia's voice, although they couldn't see her lips moving. After all, they were looking in the perspective of someone standing behind her.

But for quite a while, Satsuki didn't come inside. If you listened closely, you could hear slight panting sounds, as if she was catching her breath after running a marathon.

"Satsuki?" Miia slithered towards the door. She moved a distance that was similar to two or three human steps when she suddenly stopped.

She didn't just stop. It was as if some kind of spirit was entering her. She slightly tilted her head backwards. And she was visibly flexing her muscles and brought her tail closer to her torso. It was as if for some kind of reason she was getting ready to fight someone off.

The point of view seemed to be moving closer towards Miia, which probably meant that Suu moved towards Miia. Unfortunately, it wasn't just Suu that moved towards Miia. Papi, who was wondering why her playmate was moving away, headed toward that direction as well, with her usual jolly footsteps.

"Why, why? What's wrong?"

But even she stopped within a few footsteps. And she showed the same changes. Her body was overall getting tense as if she sensed someone invading her nest.

The two of them froze in the spot.

"What is the matter?" asked Lala, who, just as always, popped out of nowhere. She adjusted her head on top of her neck as she approached. She clearly had no idea what was happening. Or, to be precise, what will happen.

A few seconds that seemed like hours passed by, and Satsuki stepped inside the door, still panting. Her hands that were clenched in fists were bleeding, and she was sweating like crazy even in the slightly cool breeze; in other words, she just looked overall horrible. If someone didn't know better, they would have thought that she just came back from a fist fight.

That was when everything just went into a disaster.

Miia and Papi rushed up as if they were just waiting for this moment all day. They were very fast. In fact, they were too fast that even with Suu's eyes, it was not easy to exactly see their movements. And the direction they were heading to was obvious.

Just seconds later, they had Satsuki in their hands. They each grabbed one of her arms and literally threw her to the living room. With a big 'thump' sound, her whole body collided with the sofa. Her head fell as if she had lost consciousness. In fact, it would not have been surprising if her spine broke.

The two of them looked in her direction. Their eyes were totally out of control and only contained a wish to kill. They walked, or slithered slowly, towards her, as they prepared their tail and claws.

"What do you think you are doing?" Lala cried. She was moving a little too late, but it seemed like it was all that she could do. Her face looked like she was very shocked. "Do you even know what you two have done?"

The two of them didn't even answer.

Lala approached with them with her scythe raised, thinking that it was about time for her to put an end to this absurdity. Well, the only flaw to that plan was that Satsuki was faster.

Everyone thought that she fainted. But that wasn't the case. She held her head, not swiftly, but not slowly either. She gave out a small sigh.

"I knew that this would happen," she murmured.

That didn't stop Miia and Papi. Right now, they were almost right in front of her.

That was when Satsuki stared into their eyes straight with her own, red eyes.

That was when the screaming started.

* * *

The members in the living room blinked their eyes. The vision Suu showed was so realistic that it was hard to believe that it wasn't reality. To be correct, the content was real, but it wasn't actually spotted by themselves or taken by a camera or anything, but it seemed like it was.

"So… that ended out like that?"

Suu nodded. She looked much more mature then usual. "Satsuki is a strange being, Master," her voice was soothing in a way, and extremely predatory in another. "Out of all of the half-breeds she could be, she is a half-breed with the gift of 'showing'. The chances that one could be born is very rare. For the half-breed to have that gift, the monster side parent must have the same gift. But a gift like that is seen only about once in a hundred years, and within very limited species, too."

"And what species may have that… 'gift'?" Rachnera asked.

"It is deeply mysterious that you do not know that, Arachne," Lala spoke, as she stared at her with strange eyes. "As far as I may know, Arachnes are one of the species that may have that gift."

Suu nodded. "True. In fact, rumors say that once there was a mermaid royalty that had this ability as well," she looked at Meroune. "But she seems to know nothing of it, so that may just be a rumor."

"Only mermaids and arachnids?"

The Mature-Suu snorted. "Of course not. Of course, there are the obvious magic users-the devils and the witches."

"So there are actually witches in this world as well?"

Centorea looked at Kimihito with 'what, you really didn't figure that out?' kind of eyes. "Master, I really do not think this is the time to be surprised at that."

Good point, Kimihito thought to himself.

"Okay then, apart from what her mother is, why did Miss Miia and Papi act like that?"

"Did you not learn it earlier doing your education as a royal mermaid?" Mero shook her head. Suu sighed. "Really… Those mermaids forget things too easily."

"You would remember that her kind was built so that they could preserve the human species. Well then, think of it the opposite way. In the perspective of the liminals that have to mate with humans to make their offspring, wouldn't they be a big threat?"

"Wait a bit, Miia and Papi are… lamias and harpies! So that means…"

Suu nodded. "Their existence itself is a very big obstacle for the preserving of certain liminal species. And because of this, these species are born with this innate instinct to be aggressive, to want to kill these half-breeds.

But then they can't possibly do that to those of their opposite sex. These half breeds were made to attract the other sex. So what happens is that their killing instinct is headed towards the half-breeds of their own kind. This instinct is the strongest in species like Lamias that have to rely on human men to breed. Other species that don't necessarily need humans to breed have much weaker instincts, an instinct much more closer to hate, but it does exist in their blood, how different the extent."

Everything made sense and seemed to fit each other like a puzzle piece.

"So you mean that they weren't doing it on some kind of logical whatsoever?"

Suu scoffed. "Master, did you look at their eyes when they were charging towards her?"

Although Kimihito couldn't really get used to those expressions the Mature-Suu made, he could get the message quite clearly.

"But then why now? They had plenty of other chances!"

Suu suddenly changed form. Now she looked like the Satsuki that was standing in front of the door in the vision Suu showed them. She seemed like she was totally tattered and exhausted.

"When someone is in this state, it is difficult for them to contain their own presence within themselves. Isn't it obvious that they are too disturbed?"

"Contain their presence?"

"Or rather, hide their presence. I told you that liminals had this instinct to hunt them down. The half-breeds found their own way to run away from them. They can somehow hide, or contain, their presence so that they wouldn't give out an aura different from a normal human's."

Looking at the eyes that showed 'I don't get what you say', Suu sighed and went back to her Mature-Suu form again.

"Think of this presence as something similar to a pheromone that you can control. Even I do not know exactly how they contain it. But as long as you pay a certain amount of attention to it and put a bit of strength in it, it seems like it is possible."

A few faces looked like they understood it this time. Of course, there was always someone that had questions.

"But then, wouldn't have this happened the day that she first came to this house? I mean, when we found her on the doorsteps."

Suu scoffed again. "If it were you, would you be able to give out pheromone when you were in no condition to even stay conscious?"

"I guess that makes sense, but then…."

"Their presence is also something similar to a life force. If the owner of the presence is too weak, the presence itself will also weaken. But their standards of 'weak' are different from normal humans. Today, when she was all exhausted and all, she wasn't exactly weak enough, at least physically, for the presence itself to weaken."

"Then does that mean," Rachnera joined in, "that it is likely for her to have had something in her head bothering her so that she wasn't able to pay attention enough to hide her presence?"

"Finally! Someone who understands!" Mature-Suu curtly smiled. "You should have looked at her face more than her bloody hands of anything else. She didn't look like anyone that was in her right mind, was she?" She transformed once again. Clearly, this time, the gang could see what she was talking about. She looked like something sucked the soul out of her. "She was exhausted mentally."

Kimihito seemed to be in deep thought.

"Dear Sir? What is the matter?"

"Nothing, just… Then that would mean that something like this might happen again, right?"

No one, not even Mature-Suu responded to this quickly. Of course, all of them knew that the answer was yes. But they knew what that meant. That means that Satsuki and the girls, Miia and Papi in particular, could not stay together for long.

"Well, if you think of it on the bright side, Master, as long as we be careful of Miia and Papi, we might not get into a situation this bad!" Centorea said, trying to be upbeat.

Of course, nobody bought it.

"As if there is actually a way that we can prevent them from meeting at all, as long as they live in the same house."

"Miss Rachnera! Do you have to be that cynical?"

Rachnera didn't stop. "Besides, let's face the facts, shall we? Although none of us said it out loud, we all felt that for some reason we don't totally feel all comfortable and nice around her. And that is getting worse as time goes. Even if nothing in particular happens, this will get worse. After all, it is instinct, right? What then?"

They all fell silent.

"Wait, Rachnee, is that true? Are you really starting to…. Hate her?"

Rachnera didn't respond to that. Nobody did.

"But… that couldn't be true, right? I mean, if she was hiding her presence well enough for Papi and Miia not to respond…" Kimihito couldn't believe what he heard.

"It doesn't work like that, Master." Mature-Suu opened her lips with difficulty. "She wasn't able to hide her presence completely. As far as I know, none of her kind can do that. What she was able to do was to hide her presence enough so that no one would show any aggressive reactions or feel instant hatred towards her. The presence still does slowly seep out of her. But she did control it well enough until that instant with Rachnera."

"Which is why, I didn't tell you this earlier."

Kimihito covered his face with his two hands. He wasn't crying. If it was something that he could just cry and get over with, he would have felt much more comfortable. He swore that he never felt this uneasy and disturbed and… difficult in his whole life.

"Give me some time alone," he said, after a long moment of silence. He rose from his seat and went towards his room. No one stopped him. They all remained in the seats they were in, not moving an inch.

* * *

Only after he was out of sight, did Rachnera say something.

"Lala, is Kimihito also a half-breed?"

Lala looked in her direction and shook her head.

"His life force is a bit different from a normal human's, but it is different from Satsuki as well."

"But when you think about the things that happen to him…"

Suu cut in. "A descendent of a half-breed, maybe. Not a half-breed. If he was a half-breed, there would be more girls around him by now."

Lala nodded. "The half-breed attraction is known to be strong and irresistible from first sight. It is like a magnet pull, they say. They also say that they forget about everything else except for that half-breed. Not the case for him."

She flexed her fingers. "Besides, there are certain humans that are born with a very strong resistance to injuries. He isn't the only one that was able to escape my grasps. Not normal, yes. But not a half-breed."

"I don't get it. Didn't you say that the half-breed thing is descended to the next generation as well?"

"Only when that half-breed mates with a liminal." Suu seemed impatient. "If the half-breed mates with a human, the child won't really be the half-breed we are talking about. They may have a certain talent with attracting liminal species, and are likely to be physically stronger than normal humans. But they don't have that attracting aura."

After almost spitting the last lines, Mature-Suu changed form back to her usual form, and walked away. Although the rest didn't know why she seemed so irritated, they knew that it wasn't really the time to ask her about that. The small meeting ended, and everyone rose from their seats.

Most of them headed towards their rooms. But one decided to go somewhere else. She went to a direction that was surely not heading towards her room, and stopped in front of a door that was certainly not her room. She knocked on the door.

 _Knock, knock_


	28. Chapter 28

"Who is it?"

"It is me, Master. May I go in?"

Kimihito sighed.

"I thought I asked you guys for some time by myself."

A small pause. "Forgive me, Master. But there is something that I would like to discuss with you. It will not take long. Would you allow me?"

Over the door, Centorea could hear a small murmuring that sounded like a yes. She slowly opened the door and went inside.

"I hope this doesn't take long."

"It won't. I just have one thing to say." Centorea went a few steps closer, until she could see his face even in the dark.

"About Miss Satsuki… I find that the main problem is that we lack information about her and her kind, right?"

Kimihito nodded.

"I think I might be able to find someone that has enough information about her."

"But Cerea, you know that the problem isn't finding someone that has enough information. It's more of a problem of finding someone that is willing to tell that information. It doesn't seem like May will tell us anything until something happens again, and Lala doesn't seem to know any more. Suu seems to know some stuff, and so does Doppel, but they're not exactly the ones that are easy to ask. And I doubt that they will tell us everything. Especially Suu."

"I think we might be able to solve that problem. I've sent a letter to my mother."

"Huh?"

"Remember that time when she first met me? She said that she met my mother before."

Kimihito had to think for a while to remember that moment. "Oh yeah, she did. But are you positive that she'll know a lot about her?"

"No, but at least she will know something. And besides, I think, that it isn't really the problem about finding out what kind of species she is."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Master, what you want is for all of us to go along. Did I get that right?"

He nodded.

"Even when you didn't know about her species and all that, you went along well with her, before she disappeared. Isn't that right as well?"

Kimihito nodded again.

"Master, the conclusion that I reached to was that the question isn't into what she is. It's about finding about what kind of person she has changed into during the time she was away from. I'm pretty sure that if we are able to figure out what kind of person she is now, we'll be able to go along fine. And my mother, if she has met here before, will be able to give you some advice. She has a very keen eye and is good at figuring out what kind of people they are at first sight."

"Makes sense!" Kimihito seemed to be really happy for a moment. But then his smile started to vanish. "But will really that be the clue for everything? Her presence has already made all of you feel uneasy around her. What about that part?"

"Master," Centorea's face turned stern. "Staying with others is never easy. There is always something that people have to give up on when they decide to live with others. I believe that her presence is somewhat similar to this. It will be difficult, but at least we will have to try."

Kimihito would have no idea, of course, but this was something that Centorea learned through staying in his house. To be specific, it was something she learned through interacting with a certain Arachne.

"You're right." Kimihito was quite surprised to hear those words from Cerea. She wasn't really the kind that coped best with newcomers. "We'll somehow find a way to get along all together."

Centorea nodded. What she didn't tell him was that among her many duties as his servant, the duty of fulfilling his wishes was one of the most important.

Kimihito wasn't too sure how to face the upcoming days. But to his relief, they went on as swiftly as ever.

Despite the big fight he had with his sister, he decided to start looking for a job, just as she said. Although he still didn't get how she got the money to buy the suit, he came to understand that she did have a point. He couldn't work as a part-timer forever. He would need to find a good job.

Of course, it wasn't like Kimihito ended up with a part-time job in the first place because he was lazy or anything.

Kimihito remembered the day he lost his sister. It was a typical day of June. The summer heat was starting to intensify, and so did his school work and overall amount of things to study. He had an important test to take, a test that would decide which university he would end up in. And he was working very hard for it.

Up until this day, Kimihito thought that it was why he lost her.

He barely looked at her for more than 1 or 2 hours every day, at around 9 or 10 PM, when he took a short rest from studying. He couldn't help it. He had to study hard. And Satsuki was kind and understanding enough to do all of his housework during that time. He was always sorry about that, but he justified himself, saying that he didn't have a choice. He told himself that he would make it up for her by getting good grades, getting into a good university, and being good to her from then.

Because of that, he didn't really pay too much attention the first day she was missing. There were times when she went on evening walks even before, and she didn't like it when he interrupted her walks with his calls, he thought to himself. Which was true. Besides, everything else was just like always: she prepared his dinner and already did the laundry. I'm pretty sure she'll be home soon, he would think, she can take care of herself.

On the second day, he knew something was wrong. He called her as soon as he came back from school, and found out that her phone was in her room. The room was clean. Just too clean.

None of the housework was done.

As soon as he figured that out, he ran outside. He asked everyone he saw, if they saw her. No one said yes. He ran over to the marketplace that she would often go to get the groceries. They told him that they saw her just yesterday, same as always. He became desperate. He ran over to the police office. They asked for his parent's information and all that, and told him that they would do everything they could. He didn't believe them. Nor did he believe his father when he said that he was truly sorry about this, and would do everything he could to find her. But he didn't have any choice.

A day passed. A week, a month, three months… Time flew as if it was escaping from him. No sign or information of her. The police has already gave up (or has intentionally let go of the case, he suspected), and his father no longer picked up the phone himself.

Kimihito rarely went to school. He spent most of his time running all over the neighborhood, and even to the outskirts of town, as far as he could go to, in search of the smallest sign of her. He forgot about his test. He forgot about everything else in the world.

It was about after a year that he decided that he must do something as he waited for her.

Anyway, he knew that it would be difficult for him to find a job. He had no college degree or anything to prove his worth. But he had to move on. From that day on, he looked all around town, and even into the closest city, to look for a place to apply.

He left early in the morning and came back in the evening. The rest of the girls knew that he was looking for a new job, and had no complaints or questions about that. The only thing that they were curious about was where Satsuki was.

Satsuki Kurusu was certainly there. But at the same time, she wasn't. Cerea told the others that she often saw Satsuki leave the house around the time she came back from her morning run. But no one saw her again, until the very late evening. Even then, no one else but Suu saw her. Every morning Kimihito would ask, and Suu would answer, in her innocent form, "She came late."

She did come late, but that doesn't mean she didn't do anything. Breakfast was always on the table. Food that seemed to be prepared as lunch and dinner were in the refrigerator. The laundry was always done. The house was kept tidy and clean, or at least, the halls and the living room was.

So everyone could make it out that she must have done that during the night, while they were sleeping. The question was, where was she during the day? No one knew the answer. If anyone did, they weren't telling it.

But to be honest, to most of the housemates, this wasn't bad news. Most of them were thinking that it would be extremely awkward to have to face her again. For Centorea, although she was concerned of her, she couldn't deny that somewhere deep in her heart, she found it reassuring that she didn't have to face her.

This was obviously an exception to Kimihito. He looked at the breakfast that was already made with a somewhat sad look, and came back home with a glance of hope in his eyes that soon disappeared after a quick Q&A session.

It wasn't like he didn't know that there was always the option of him waiting in the living room until Satsuki came back. But somehow he felt that he shouldn't do that. He recalled the past few days. He didn't remember getting in so many intense arguments with her during such a short time. He would just sigh to himself. He would have to wait until she opened herself to him, and to the others.

This lasted until Friday.

On Saturday, everyone was at home. Kimihito was taking a rest from looking around everywhere for a job. Things weren't so hopeful as the ideal situation. But at least he had a list of companies he could still go and take a look at. Nevertheless, he needed some rest. Not to even mention that most companies aren't open during the weekends.

He was peacefully doing the dishes for lunch, when he heard the doorbell.

"Who is it?"

"Me, Darling-kun!"

He shook his head. He knew better than to think that he would be able to stop her. He asked Miia to go open the door for him.

To his surprise, Smith looked a little different than usual. She was in sport training pants and a t-shirt, as if she just came back from a jog or something.

"I never knew you enjoyed exercising, Smith-san," Kimihito said as he got her a cup of coffee.

"I never did, and I never will," said Smith. "I am in these for a different reason."

Kimihito suddenly felt like he should brace himself for something. Smith acting different from normal was never a good sign. "What could that be?"

"Darling-kun." She suddenly seemed serious. "Have you seen anyone mysterious around here?"

"Huh?"

"I'm looking for someone right now. Did you notice anyone strange or unusual around here?"

Kimihito looked at her as if she was asking something obvious. "You work for the government. Can't you check personal records or something?"

She shook her head. "There's no one that matches."

"Then are you sure that he's from around here?"

"I saw him myself." She seemed to be getting impatient. "Believe me, I looked through everything. I'm spending my own vacation to look for this guy."

Rachnera seemed to have found the conversation interesting. "What makes this guy so special anyway?"

"There's something that I have to find out about him," Smith replied. But it was pretty obvious that there was much more to why she was looking for him. "Anyway, do you know anyone?"

"How does he look like, anyway?"

"I can't really tell you much, because I don't know that much about him, either. But I do know that he was very tall. He seemed to be at least 190cm or something. Do you know anyone around the neighborhood that's that tall?"

There was a certain person that passed through Kimihito's mind.

"I think I might have seen who you're looking for, Smith-san. Could you mind telling me more about this person?"


	29. Chapter 29

Kimihito was quite certain that the person Smith was talking about was the man he saw that day. He perfectly fit in the description: tall, mysterious, and somewhat not-human-like.

He went back into the woods to lead Smith to the place he met him. The leaving part was surprisingly very easy. He thought that it would have been impossible to keep the girls apart. To his surprise, Rachnera worked together with Centorea to stop the girls from following him. Seeing those two work together was something surprising in itself, of course, but the most astonishing part was that they succeeded into stopping Miia from coming. To his surprise, the one that seemed like she wanted to follow until the very last moment was Meroune. He wasn't sure how he should understand that.

There was too much going around him nowadays. He decided to forget about it.

"Are you sure we're going the right way, Darling-kun? I have a feeling we're getting lost in the woods," said Smith. In one part of his mind, Kimihito wasn't too sure how things worked so that he was alone with this woman. Although she was beautiful, and he didn't try to deny that, she was always a somewhat scary person to Kimihito for many reasons.

Despite that, Kimihito knew that he was going the right way. Although he didn't really have a map of this area in his mind, he just had this feeling that this was the right way. And he could feel this feeling growing stronger the more he moved his feet. "I'm pretty sure it was. Around here, I think we'll see the… oh, here it is."

He stopped in front of the giant tree, the tree that seemed like the center of the forest.

"I didn't know that there was a tree this big," said Smith. She looked sincerely amazed. Kimihito had to agree with that. Seeing the tree in broad daylight seemed to make it look even bigger and even more magnificent. Kimihito thought that with all the crazy events and overwhelming characters around him, he could believe it if someone said that the tree was the tree of all life or something. It was so big and somehow mysterious that it seemed like it radiated magical powers.

"I know, right? But I don't see Kii…" Kimihito looked around. No sign of her.

From that point, Kimihito wasn't too sure where he should go to next. Kii was the one that led him to that guy-or the girls, depending on the way you look at it. He was stuck.

He was just about to tell Smith that, when he heard footsteps from far away. They were footsteps for certain. They couldn't have been sounds that Kii made when she moved around in the forest. The thump sound was too prominent.

He moved his head towards the direction he could hear the sound, but he could see that Smith was even faster than him. She was already walking towards the direction.

From far away, he could see a tall human figure walking towards his direction. The closer he came, the more certain he was that he was the one he saw that night.

The man came all the way up to them, and stopped right in front of Smith, who was heading her back towards Kimihito. He had no idea what kind of face she was making.

That was the first time Kimihito was able to take a good look at him. He was certainly very tall. Although he and Smith were both not that short, standing next to him, they both looked like they were teenagers. His hair was straight black, a bit longer than his, and was a bit messy. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and black pants that he couldn't make out the material of. He was overall quite muscular, not too buff, but just good enough to look attractive to everyone.

And his face. Kimihito wasn't so sure how he should describe it to anyone. He looked like he was in his early or mid-twenties, and one thing was absolutely obvious-he looked like he would have more women around him than himself. But there was this feeling he could feel when he looked at him, and he wasn't sure how he should put that into words. Nostalgia? Sadness? Mysteriousness? He seemed familiar and distant at the same time. He just didn't look…. Like a 'normal human being', although he had 2 legs, 2 arms, 10 fingers, and all that, if that made any sense.

"Hello, there. We've met each other before, didn't we?" The man winked at Kimihito, and soon moved his eyes to Smith, who wasn't even moving an inch. "And I believe I saw you before, as well. You do look a bit different without that giant yellow suit." He smiled.

Smith looked at him as if he was a lost family member that she barely managed to reunite. She was certain that he was the one that she was looking for, the one that she remembered seeing that day.

She had been looking for him for so long, she wasn't so sure what she had to say.

"May I ask you why I brought your boyfriend with you to the woods to meet me? I don't think you're lost again," he said, with that smile still on his face.

Although it was difficult, she managed not to get possessed by that smile and managed to say something. "I've came here and looked for you before."

He nodded. "I know. I could feel that."

"Then why didn't you appear back then?" Her voice was trembling. She couldn't help it.

"You had company." He said simply.

"But that's the same for this time! Why didn't you…"

He lightly put his hand on her shoulder, as if he was trying to sooth her. His touch gave out a strange feeling-warmth, freshness…. Just like the feeling she could get when she was lying on the forest grass on a warm, sunny day.

"It is much better for me not to appear in front of your… other female friends. Believe me, it is for their own good, and mine, of course." He chuckled a bit. Smith swore that he was breathtakingly beautiful when he did that. She almost forgot what she should say next.

"You're Riku…right?"

He nodded. His eyes just didn't stop smiling. "It seems like your zombie friend told you the right information. Although," he paused for a minute as he moved his eyes towards his hands as he just pointlessly moved them around. After that, he returned back to her with the same smile in his eyes. "I'm not so sure if I should have told her that part of information. It was very careless of me to tell my… personal information to a government official."

"Maybe. But I don't think it really made any difference. I couldn't find your record anywhere. It didn't help he know anything about you."

He laughed again. This time the laugh was much bigger. "I knew that you would have had problems with that. That wasn't really my concern. Unless you were perhaps thinking of arresting me or something for illegal trespassing?"

She shook her head. She knew that this was perfectly neglecting her duties. But it wasn't like she never did this before. Besides, she knew that she couldn't do that. She just couldn't.

"Um…Riku was it?" 'Damn it, why did he have to interrupt here?' Smith thought to herself.

Riku turned his attention to Kimihito. "Ah, I'm sorry about that. Hey, did you go back safely that day?"

Kimihito nodded. "All thanks to you."

"Not really. There would have been no reason for your little walk to get into a mess in the first place if it wasn't for me." He walked towards him, leaving Smith behind. "Say, you didn't tell anyone else about what happened, right?"

Kimihito nodded. "How did you know that?"

He laughed again. "I just thought so. You didn't seem like the type to talk about all kinds of things to just anyone. Did you explain to them, though?"

Another nod. "I see. I guess that couldn't have been helped."

"But Riku, I don't really get it myself. Would you mind explaining me what happened that night? Thoroughly. Nowadays everyone around me isn't giving me any kind of explanation for anything."

"Wait," Smith stepped in the conversation. "What happened?"

Riku wrapped his arms around Kimihito shoulder, as if the two of them were old buddies. "Just a little guy-secret." He winked.

Smith wanted to interrogate him. But she just couldn't. What on Earth was that guy doing to her? He was a handsome guy, and she had to admit that she had never seen anyone that looked as good as him throughout her whole life, but she never thought of herself to be so easily swayed just by good looks. What the heck was he?

While Smith was stunned, the two guys started to talk again.

"I think it will be really great if you didn't tell about that incident to anyone else as well."

"I can do that. I don't think anyone else would believe me anyway. But please, can you give me any explanation?"

Riku responded with nothing but a smile. Kimihito was starting to think that his smile might have been carved into his skin. It never seemed to leave his face.

"Really, nothing?" He groaned. He was sick of this. "Fine then, just tell me this one thing. Who exactly are you?"

Riku seemed to ponder about that. "That's a tricky question."

'Why on Earth is that a tricky question?' Kimihito thought to himself. If he was just a bit more impatient, he would have yelled at him.

"Let's just say that I'm not the usual guy you see on the streets, shall we?"

'As if that wasn't any obvious!'

"I think that's about all that I would be able to tell you two for now." He moved a step away from Kimihito and Smith. "It's time for me to go."

"Wait," Smith grabbed his arm. She had no idea she did that. She was only thinking of stopping him from leaving. "I still have much more to say to you!"

Riku slightly frowned his left eyebrow.

"Why did you disappear that day? Why did you avoid me? And why!" She was literally yelling at him at this point. "Do you look just like that person from 11 years ago?"

Riku put that smile on his face again. He slightly grabbed her hand with his other hand to get her hands of his arm. "So many questions that I can't answer. But believe me, young lady, that it is all for your sake, and not mine." He looked into her eyes. "Please understand me. I don't have any other choice."

With that final word, he walked away, just as he left. Although he was just walking, it almost felt like he was warping to another dimension. When Kimihito and Smith were back into their senses and started to follow him, they soon found out that he had already disappeared. Just like that.

Smith sniffed. She used her hand to wipe her tears. She lost him. Once again.

Kimihito returned home by himself. Smith disappeared to wherever she had to go with a dumbfounded look on her face even before Kimihito could offer her a ride or an escort. And of course, Satsuki was not home. He double-checked that with his own eyes, when he went inside her room to find out that there was no sign of her to be found in the house.

He decided to stay in that room for a while. He needed some time by himself. He sat on the bed that was neatly made up, causing a slight disruption in its perfect figure. He used his hands to cover his face.

What has he done wrong? Everything seemed to be going in a weird direction or even worse, a wrong direction. He couldn't even talk normally to his younger sister that he's been looking for such a long time. The recent incident with that guy that called himself Riku turned out to be a complete mystery that he wasn't willing to explain about.

He was too absorbed in his thoughts that he couldn't notice Suu coming in the room. Well, she did do her best not to make any sound at all. She transformed herself into a flat puddle to get inside the room through the small gap between the door and the floor.

"Master, are you okay?"

Kimihito held his head and looked at her. "How did you do that? Coming in without a sound?" But it was pretty obvious in his tone that he wasn't actually curious about how she did that. Kimihito has been living long enough with the girls to have understood that there were things that they could just do.

So Suu just took the vacant seat next to him. She seemed like she was in her teenage-from-that is, the medium stage of her child and mature form. She just simply asked, "May?"

Kimihito nodded. Suu nodded in understanding. "There is something that I would like to show you, Master."

He looked at her with an obvious question mark in his face. Suu placed the antennae on her head on his head.

"She told me many things while the rest of you were all sleeping. She doesn't want you to know all about this, but I think she's wrong."

Those were the last words that he heard before the vision he saw no longer showed his little sister's room. This time he was in a place that seemed to be a cottage in the middle of the forest.

* * *

 **A/N:** As always, thank you for reading _The Kurusus_. My schedule isn't allowing me to upload frequently, but I am doing the best I can do.

The story has already passed halfway. It might even end much earlier than I have expected. There were many side stories and characters that I would have wanted to write about, but I realized that my ability as a writer won't allow me to bring out all that and at the same time, not make the story boring. Up until now, the story was mostly a series of questions that weren't fully answered. I plan to answer the questions that might have popped up in your minds from now on.

What do you think about the story up until now? Please do tell me through the reviews. Although I don't answer them (mostly because that would spill the beans), I do read through them and think about how I could improve.

Once again, thanks.


	30. Chapter 30

That night, Kimihito didn't go to sleep. He stayed awake, staying in another room for a good reason. It was way past midnight by the time the owner came in the room and opened its door.

"Hi, bro."

Kimihito looked in the direction. It was certainly her, just a bit more weary looking and a little less hungry looking than before, if that made any sense. Her dark circles were prominent and her eyes were red.

"It took you a while to get back home."

She frowned. "You're a bit too calm than I would expect. I thought you would be trying to grasp my collar or something."

"Not really. I guess I… now know too much to be able to act that way."

She slowly walked in and sat on the bed, right next to him.

"Who told you? Suu?"

Kimihito didn't answer.

"You don't have to answer. You already know everything now anyway."

He gave out a small, silent laugh. He could never win her, could he?

"Look, I forced her to tell me." He lied.

"It doesn't matter. Even if she was the one forcing the information on you, it wouldn't change anything. Now you know everything."

"But why?" He turned his body towards her. "If you just told me everything, I would have understood!"

Satsuki just slightly smiled. She took a beat of silence before she responded.

"Isn't it nice? Just to be able to speak to each other like this. No shouting, no blood-red eyes, nothing too apart from being normal…"

He waited for her to finish up.

"You know Kimi, I was too young to know it before. When I got to know it, it was already too late to run away from it. I did try, of course. But it didn't really work out. You _saw_ what happened."

Kimihito unconsciously nodded.

"I knew it was Suu that showed it to you." She smiled. It was a teasing smile, the biggest smile that she made that night.

"Dang it."

She chuckled a bit. They both did. When Kimihito recalled this night later, he remembered it as the most peaceful and beautiful moment of his life.

After the chuckling stopped, Satsuki faced the window. The sky was cloudy.

"When I escaped from my mother, or at least when I tried to, I desperately wished that I could meet you just once more. After all, you are my only true family. When I woke up that day in the living room, I was more than happy. But soon enough, I found out that meeting you for a short amount of time was the only thing that was allowed to me. I had to leave you."

"Is there no way that we could stop that from happening?" He felt his vision blur.

"You've seen me past the few days, Kimi. How weird was I? I was more capricious than Miia, now that I look back. Even if I managed to live on, you can't live with someone like that. People that like should live alone, and not bother others."

"If you could manage to survive, I'll make you stay home even if you are the weirdest creature in the universe."

She smiled. He couldn't see it. "You're a good guy, bro. But that's why I can't do that. Other people deserve to have someone by their side. Not me."

Silence spread again. Kimihito didn't know what he should say in order to win over her using words. It took him a while to ask her something that he wanted to ask ever since Suu showed her everything.

"The curse," he carefully spoke. "Can't it be removed?"

She shook her head. "It can't be removed in any other way than death. Even if the one who gave the curse dies, the curse will live on."

Silence again.

"Cruel, isn't it?" She laughed. She sounded dejected. "The mother casted a curse, a slowly, but killing curse to her own daughter. The mother wanted to kill her daughter, the daughter that tried everything to escape from death in many encounters.

I questioned her many times. Why? Why did she do this to me? She never really told me anything except for that it is because I am his daughter. She couldn't stand another woman related to him in flesh alive in this world."

Kimihito felt something run down his cheek.

She looked back to face him. "Don't cry, Kimi. I wanted to keep this a secret because I didn't want to see you cry. You know-the curse does have its advantages-my body will remain to look as if it's alive even after a few days after death. A sage I met that I met in one of my travels told me that, so you can believe it."

He broke down. He could feel hands embracing him. He couldn't stand it anymore. He shook off the hands that embraced him and ran back to his room. He muffled himself so that he wouldn't wake anyone else.

* * *

The next morning, Satsuki was there on the breakfast table. Nobody dared to ask why. For one thing, Kimihito's eyes were totally swollen, making it obvious that he had cried himself to sleep. Another thing, neither of the siblings talked. It was probably the most quiet breakfast in the history of the Kurusu house.

When Kimihito left the house, he looked very determined. After all, this was the last interview he could attend to for now. If he couldn't get accepted in this company, he would have to wait for another season to take an interview in another company. But no one really knew about this. They just thought that it was because of the conversation he had with his sister.

After he left with a rather quiet escort from those in the house, everyone turned to look for Satsuki, to ask for an explanation. But she was already nowhere to be seen. Rachnera later found out that she escaped through the window.

* * *

While Kimihito was taking a deep breath before his interview, Satsuki headed downtown. She wasn't too sure that she would be able to find who she wanted to, but she just had this feeling that she might get lucky today.

After about an hour or two, when she was passing by a small coffee shop, she could finally see an extremely familiar silhouette. Of course, she would be drinking coffee.

"Hello, Agent Smith."

She took off her glasses to see who was calling her. She wasn't too happy to see Satsuki, but she had a feeling that Satsuki had something to say to her, so she decided to hear her out.

"Hello, there. Is there anything that you would like to say? I don't have much time, so I think it will be better if you could make it quick."

Satsuki inhaled a lot of air into her lungs. It felt too difficult for her to spit out the words that she knew that she should have said much earlier. But she knew that now it was the time for her to settle everything. She had to say this now, or she'll never have the chance to say it.

"Auntie…Kuroko. Do you remember me?"

Smith had never accidentally dropped a coffee cup in her life. That was the first day she did.

"You…You're lying."

Satsuki smirked. "I don't think so."

* * *

Back home, Rachnera was sneaking outside through the attic's window. Although none of the girls thought that anything was going on normally in the house, she was the one that was the quickest to actually make a reaction towards it.

Or at least she tried to. The mature version of Suu was sitting on the roof, as if she was waiting for Rachnera to come out of the window.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Suu."

The mature slime laughed like a villain in a Disney movie.

"Did you really think you could escape without getting caught by the others?"

"Shush, Suu! Does anyone else know that I'm leaving?"

"I kept it a secret. For now," she made a slick smile. "I might reveal it to the others later, you know."

"Please don't…"

"You're going outside to look for her, right?"

Rachnera didn't have to be told who that 'her' meant. She nodded.

"Going after her won't change anything, you know. I think she already made her mind. So did Master."

"I don't have any idea what you're saying." She bit her lip, "If you know anything more than me, then tell me, or just get out of my face!"

Another laughter. "Poor Arachne, do you even know what kind of curse flows in that girl? You know nothing about her, and yet you try to understand her with your head! You'll never understand anything like that, you know."

"Shut up." She was getting impatient. "Or should I make you shut up?" She wasn't aware of the fact that she couldn't make that happen.

"Oh, don't be so mean." She lengthened her neck to get her face closer to Rachnera's. "After all, you want him to be yours in the end, don't you? I could help you, you know."

"And I'm supposed to believe you? Why are you even trying to do me a favor anyway?"

"There are some things that people just don't get." Suu said as she looked out into the sky. "I live much too long to have him for myself. I'd rather have much more fun making someone win instead of me. And can you even _picture_ him with any of one of the other girls? The simple-minded lamia, the dumb harpy, the strict and straightforward, chivalry-crazy centaur, or the princess-y mermaid? And don't even get started with me about the scenario with a human and a dulahan. That's just absurd."

"I don't believe you."

"Then let's get back to the basics. The only two beings in this house that actually have the brains to understand this whole situation is you and the centaur. And let's just say that I'd feel more…entertained to make you win." She chuckled.

Rachnera didn't totally believe her, but she had no other choice. She nodded slowly. "I'll take the offer. What kind of information do you have?"

The only thing Rachnera could see was Suu's evil smile before Suu placed a part of her body on her head, and the visions started.


End file.
